Essentials in conducting

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J34 ESSENTIALS

IN

CONDUCTING

BY

KARL WILSON GEHRKENS, A.M.

PROFESSOR OF SCHOOL MUSIC
ORERLIN CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC

AUTHOR OF "MTT8IO NOTATION AND TKHMINOLOGf"

$1.75

*

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BOSTON

OLIVER DITSON COMPANY

NEW YORK CHICAGO

CHAS. H. DITSON & CO. LYON & HEALY

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S^ MADE IN V. 9. A.

Digitized by the Internet Archive
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CONTENTS

Page

Chapter I — Introduction 1

Chapter II — Personal Traits necessary in Conduct-
ing 8

Chapter III — The Technique of the Baton 20

Chapter IV — Interpretation in Conducting — Intro-
ductory 36

Chapter V — Interpretation in Conducting — Tempo 46
Chapter VI — Interpretation in Conducting — Dyna-
mics 57

Chapter VII — Interpretation in Conducting — Timbre,

Phrasing, etc 64

Chapter VIII — The Supervisor of Music as Conductor . 76

Chapter IX — The Community Chorus Conductor. . 85

Chapter X — The Orchestral Conductor 93

Chapter XI — Directing the Church Choir 108

Chapter XII — The Boy Choir and its Problems. .... 118

Chapter XIII — The Conductor as Voice Trainer 131

Chapter XIV — The Art of Program Making 140

Chapter XV — Conductor and Accompanist 147

Chapter XVI — Efficiency in the Rehearsal 152

Appendix A — Reference List 164

Appendix B — Score of second movement of Haydn's

Symphony, No. 3 166

Index 1 SI

PREFACE

In putting out this little book, the author is well
aware of the fact that many musicians feel that con-
ductors, like poets and teachers, are "born and not
made"; but his experience in training supervisors of
music has led him to feel that, although only the ele-
mentary phases of conducting can be taught, such in-
struction is nevertheless quite worth while, and is often
surprisingly effective in its results. He has also come
to believe that even the musical genius may profit by
the experience of others and may thus be enabled to do
effective work as a conductor more quickly than if he
relied wholly upon his native ability.

The book is of course planned especially with the
amateur in view, and the author, in writing it, has had
in mind his own fruitless search for information upon
the subject of conducting when he was just beginning
his career as a teacher; and he has tried to say to the
amateur of today those things that he himself so sorely
needed to know at that time, and had to find out by
blundering experience.

It should perhaps be stated that although the writer
has himself had considerable experience in conducting,
the material here presented is rather the result of observ-
ing and analyzing the work of others than an account
of his own methods. In preparation for his task, the
author has observed many of the better-known conduc-
tors in this country, both in rehearsal and in public
performance, during a period of some twelve years, and
the book represents an attempt to put into simple
language and practical form the ideas gathered from

il PREFACE

this observation. It is hoped that as a result of read-
ing these pages the amateur may not only have become
more fully informed concerning those practical phases
of conducting about which he has probably been seek-
ing light, but may be inspired to further reading and
additional music study in preparation for the larger as-
pects of the work.

The writer wishes to acknowledge the material assist-
ance rendered him by Professor John Ross Frampton,
of the Iowa State Teachers College, and Professor Os-
bourne McConathy, of Northwestern University, both
of whom have read the book in manuscript and have
given invaluable suggestions. He wishes also to ac-
knowledge his very large debt to Professor George
Dickinson, of Vassar College, who has read the material
both in manuscript and in proof, and to whose pointed
comments and criticisms many improvements both in
material and in arrangement are due.

K. W. G.

Oberlin, Ohio
June, 1918

Essentials in Conducting

CHAPTER I

Introduction

definition The word "conducting" as used in a musi-
cal sense now ordinarily refers to the
activities of an orchestra or chorus leader who stands
before a group of performers and gives his entire time
and effort to directing their playing or singing, to the
end that a musically effective ensemble performance
may result. %

This is accomplished by means of certain conven-
tional movements of a slender stick called a baton
(usually held in the right hand), as well as through such
changes of facial expression, bodily posture, et cetera,
as will convey to the singers or players the conductor's
wishes concerning the rendition of the music.

Conducting in this sense involves the responsibility
of having the music performed at the correct tempo,
with appropriate dynamic effects, with precise attacks
and releases, and in a fitting spirit. This in turn im-
plies that many details have been worked out in re-
hearsal, these including such items as making certain
that all performers sing or play the correct tones in
the correct rhythm; insisting upon accurate pronuncia-
tion and skilful enunciation of the words in vocal music;
indicating logical and musical phrasing; correcting mis-
takes in breathing or bowing; and, in general, stimulat-
ing orchestra or chorus to produce a tasteful rendition

2 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

of the music as well as an absolutely perfect ensemble
with all parts in correct proportion and perfect balance.
In order to have his directing at the public perform-
ance function properly, it thus becomes the conductor's
task to plan and to administer the rehearsals in such a
way that the performers may become thoroughly familiar
with the music, both in technique and in spirit. In
other words, the conductor must play the part of musical
manager as well as that of artistic inspirer, and if he
does not perform his task in such fashion as to be looked
up to by the members of his chorus or orchestra as the
real leader, and if he himself does not feel confident of
being able to do his work better than any one else upon
the ground, he cannot possibly be successful in any
very high degree. A conductor must first of all be a
strong leader, and failing in this, no amount of musical
ability or anything else will enable him to conduct well.
We shall have more to say upon this point in a later
chapter.

SUMMARY OF THE Conducting of one kind or another
HISTORY OF jias undoubtedly been practised for

CONDUCTING * • u * *r +• u

many centuries, but directing by

gestures of the hand has not been traced farther back
than the fourteenth century, at which time Heinrich
von Meissen, a Minnesinger, is represented in an old
manuscript directing a group of musicians with stick
in hand. In the fifteenth century the leader of the Sis-
tine Choir at Rome directed the singers with a roll of
paper (called a ' 'sol-fa"), held in his hand. By the
latter part of the seventeenth century it had become
customary for the conductor to sit at the harpsichord
or organ, filling in the harmonies from a "figured bass,"
and giving any needed signals with one hand or the
head as best he could. Conducting during this period
signified merely keeping the performers together; that
is, the chief function of the conductor was that of

INTRODUCTION 3

"time beater. " With the advent of the conductor in
the role of interpreter, such directing became obsolete,
and from the early nineteenth century, and particularly
as the result of the impetus given the art by the con-
ducting of Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Liszt, and Wagner,
the conductor has become an exceedingly important
functionary, in these modern days even ranking with the
jyrima donna in operatic performances! It is now the
conductor's aim not merely to see that a composition is
played correctly and with good ensemble; more than
that, the leader of today gives his own version or read-
ing of the composition just as the pianist or violinist does.
Instead of being a mere "time beater' ' he has become an
interpreter, and (except in the case of the organist-
director of a choir) he attempts to do nothing except so
to manipulate his musical forces as to secure an effec-
tive performance.

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL The conductor works largely

BASIS OF through the instrumentality of in-

CONDUCTING .. .? . .. . ■ .1 . . , •

stinctive imitation; that is, his
methods are founded upon the fact that human beings
have an innate tendency to copy the actions of others,
often without being conscious that they are doing so.
Thus, if one person yawns or coughs, a second person
observing him has an instinctive tendency to do like-
wise. One member of a group is radiant with happiness,
and very soon the others catch the infection and are
smiling also; a singer at a public performance strains
to get a high tone, and instinctively our faces pucker up
and our throat muscles become tense, in sympathetic
but entirely unconscious imitation. In very much the
same way in conducting, the leader sets the tempo, —
and is imitated by the musicians under him; he feels a
certain emotional thrill in response to the composer's
message, — and arouses a similar thrill in the performers ;
lifts his shoulders as though taking .breath, — and causes

4 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

the singers to phrase properly, often without either the
conductor or the singers being aware of how the direction
was conveyed. It is at least partly because we instinc-
tively imitate the mental state or the emotional attitude
of the pianist or the vocalist that we are capable of being
thrilled or calmed by musical performances, and it is
largely for this reason that an audience always insists
upon seeing the artist as well as hearing him. In the
same way the musicians in a chorus or orchestra must
see the conductor and catch from him by instinctive
imitation his attitude toward the music being performed.
This point will be more fully discussed in a later chapter,
when we take up interpretation in conducting.

CONDUCTING In setting out to become a conductor

A COMBINATION OF it ^u be weU f or th musician

SCIENCE AND ART . . . ., • . &. ., . ,

to recognize at the outset that by

far the larger part of the conductor's work rests upon
an art basis, and that only a comparatively small por-
tion of it is science; hence he must not expect to find
complete information concerning his future work in any
treatise upon the subject. It is one thing to state that
there are three primary colors, or that orange is the re-
sult of mixing red and yellow, but it is a very different
matter to give directions for painting an effective land-
scape, or a true-to-life portrait. One thing involves
science only, but the other is concerned primarily with
art, and it is always dangerous to dogmatize concerning
matters artistic. To carry the illustration one step
farther, we may say that it is comparatively easy to
teach a pupil to strike certain piano keys in such a way
as to produce the correct melody, harmony, and rhythm
of a certain composition; but who would venture, even
in these days of frenzied advertising, to promise that in
so many lessons he could teach a pupil to play it as a
Hofmann or a Paderewski would? Here again we see
clearly the contrast between science and art, matters of

INTRODUCTION 5

science being always susceptible of organization into a
body of principles and laws which will work in every case,
while art is intangible, subtle, and ever-varying.

The application of our illustration to conducting should
now be clear. We may teach a beginner how to wield
a baton according to conventional practice, how to se-
cure firm attacks and prompt releases, and possibly a
few other definitely established facts about conducting;
but unless our would-be leader has musical feeling within
him and musicianship back of him, it will be utterly
futile for him to peruse these pages further, or to make
any other kind of an attempt to learn to conduct ; for, as
stated above, only a very small part of conducting can
be codified into rules, directions, and formulae, by far the
larger part of our task being based upon each indi-
vidual's own innate musical feeling, and upon the general
musical training that he has undergone. All this may
be discouraging, but on the other hand, granting a fair
degree of native musical ability, coupled with a large
amount of solid music study, any one possessing a sense
of leadership can, after a reasonable amount of intelli-
gent practice, learn to handle a chorus or even an
orchestra in a fairly satisfactory manner. It is our
purpose in general to treat the scientific rather than the
artistic side of conducting, and we are taking for granted,
therefore, that the reader is endowed with musical feel-
ing at least in a fair degree, and has acquired the rudi-
ments of musical scholarship as the result of an extensive
study of piano, organ, singing, ear-training, music
history, harmony, et cetera, and especially by attentive
listening to a very large amount of good music with score
in hand. As a result of combining such musical ability with
a careful reading of these pages and with a large amount
of practice in actually wielding the baton, it is hoped
that the beginner will arrive at his goal somewhat earlier
than he would if he depended entirely upon what the psy-
chologist calls the "trial-and-error" method of learning.

6 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

IMPORTANCE The musical amateur who is ambitious to
OF MUSICAL conduct should therefore study music in
SCHOLARSHIP „ .. * j •* • j tlI i_«

all its phases, and it in doubt as to his

talent, he should submit to a vocational test in order
to determine whether his native musical endowment is
sufficient to make it worth his while to study the art
seriously. If the result of the test is encouraging, show-
ing a good ear, a strong rhythmic reaction, and a con-
siderable amount of what might be termed native musical
taste, let him practise his piano energetically and intel-
ligently, and especially let him learn to read three and
four voices on separate staffs (as in a vocal score) in
order to prepare himself for future reading of full scores.
Let him study harmony, counterpoint, form, and, if pos-
sible, composition and orchestration. Let him work in-
defatigably at ear-training, and particularly at har-
monic ear training, so that notes and tones may become
closely associated in his mind, the printed page then
giving him auditory rather than merely visual imagery;
in other words, let him school himself to make the
printed page convey to his mind the actual sounds of the
music. Let him study the history of music, not only
as a record of the work of individual composers, but as
an account of what has transpired in the various periods
or epochs of musical art, so that he may become intelli-
gent concerning the ideals, the styles, and the forms of
these various periods. And finally, let him hear all the
good music he possibly can, listening to it from the
threefold standpoint of sense, emotion, and intellect, and
noting particularly those matters connected with expres-
sion and interpretation in these renditions. In as many
cases as possible let him study the scores of the com-
positions beforehand, comparing then his own ideas of
interpretation with those of the performer or conductor,
and formulating reasons for any differences of opinion
that may become manifest.

Let the young musician also form the habit of reading

INTRODUCTION 7

widely, not only along all musical lines (history, biogra-
phy, theory, esthetics, et cetera), but upon a wide variety
of topics, such as painting and the other arts, history,
literature, sociology, pedagogy, et cetera. As the result of
such study and such reading, a type of musical scholar-
ship will be attained which will give the conductor an
authority in his interpretations and criticisms that can-
not possibly be achieved in any other way. Let us
hasten to admit at once that the acquiring of this sort
of scholarship will take a long time, and that it cannot
all be done before beginning to conduct. But in the
course of several years of broad and intelligent study a
beginning at least can be made, and later on, as the
result of continuous growth while at work, a fine, solid,
comprehensive scholarship may finally eventuate.

CHAPTER II

Personal Traits Necessary in Conducting

importance OF In the introductory chapter it was noted
personality tnat the conductor must build upon a
foundation of musical scholarship if he
is to be really successful; that he must possess musical
feeling; and that he must go through extensive musical
training, if he is to conduct with taste and authority.
But in addition to these purely musical requirements,
experience and observation have demonstrated that the
would-be conductor must be possessed of certain defi-
nitely established personal characteristics, and that
many a musician who has been amply able to pass muster
from a musical standpoint, has failed as a conductor
because he lacked these other traits.

It is not my purpose to give at this point an exhaus-
tive list of qualities that must form the personal equip-
ment of the conductor. In general it will be sufficienLto
state that he must possess in a fair degree those personal
traits that are advantageous in any profession. But
of these desirable qualities three or four seem to be so
indispensable that it has been thought best to devote a
brief chapter to a discussion of them. These qualities are:

1. A sense of humor.

2. A creative imagination.

3. A sense of leadership combined with organizing ability.

A sense The first of these traits, a sense of humor,

OF HUMOR may perhapS upon first thought seem a pecul-
iar quality to include in a category of virtues
for the professional man of any type, and especially for
the musician. But upon reflection it will be admitted

PERSONAL TRAITS 9

that the ability to see things in a humorous light (which
very frequently means merely seeing them in true per-
spective) has helped many a man to avoid wasting ner-
vous energy upon insignificant occurrences, while the
lack of this ability has caused more trouble among all
sorts of people (and particularly, it seems to me, among
musicians) than any other single thing.

ILLUSTRATIONS Some player or singer is either over-

OF HUMOR IN arduous or a bit sleepy during the first

THE REHEARSAL . , , ' J •*•

stages ot rehearsing a new composition,
and makes a wrong entrance, perhaps during a pause
just before the climacteric point. The occurrence is
really funny and the other performers are inclined to
smile or snicker, but our serious conductor quells the
outbreak with a scowl. The humorous leader, on the
other hand, sees the occurrence as the performers do,
joins in the laugh that is raised at the expense of the
offender, and the rehearsal goes on with renewed spirit.

An instrumental performer makes a bad tone, and the
conductor laughs at him, saying it sounds like a wolf
howling or an ass braying. If the remark is accom-
panied by a smile, the performer straightens up and
tries to overcome the fault; but if the comment is made
with a snarl there is a tightening up of muscles, an in-
creased tension of the nerves, and the performer is more
than likely to do worse the next time.

There is a difference of opinion between the con-
ductor and some performer about fingering or bowing,
phrasing or interpretation, and a quarrel seems immi-
nent; but the conductor refuses to take the matter too
seriously, and, having ample authority for his own view-
point, proceeds as he has begun, later on talking it over
with the performer, and perhaps giving him a reason for
his opinion.

Humor is thus seen to have the same effect upon a
body of musicians as oil applied to machinery, and

10 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

musical machinery seems to need more of this kind of
lubrication than almost any other variety.

But the conductor must distinguish carefully between
sarcastic wit, which laughs at, and humor, which laughs
with. In a book bearing the copyright date of 1849,
the writer distinguishes between the two, in the follow-
ing words:*

Humor originally meant moisture, a signification it metaphorically retains,
for it is the very juice -of the mind, enriching and fertilizing where it falls.
Wit laughs at; humor laughs with. Wit lashes external appearances, or cun-
ningly exchanges single foibles into character; humor glides into the heart of
its object, looks lovingly upon the infirmities it attacks, and represents the
whole man. Wit is abrupt, scornful . . . ; humor is slow and shy, insinuat-
ing its fun into your heart.

THE VALUE OF The conductor with a sense of humor
A cheerful w|jj ordinarily have the advantage
also of being cheerful in his attitude
toward the performers, and this is an asset of no mean
significance. It is a well-known psychophysical fact
that the human body does much better work when the
mind is free from care, and that in any profession or
vocation, othier things being equal, the worker who is
cheerful and optimistic will perform his labor much
more efficiently at the expense of considerably less
mental and bodily energy than he who is ill-humored,
worried, fretful, and unable to take a joke. But the
foreman who possesses this quality of cheerfulness and
humor is doubly fortunate, for he not only secures the
beneficial results in his own case, but by his attitude
frequently arouses the same desirable state of mind
and body in those who are working under him. It is
particularly because of this latter fact that the con-
ductor needs to cultivate a cheerful, even a humorous
outlook, especially in the rehearsal. As the result of
forming this habit, he will be enabled to give directions

* Whipple, Literature and Life, p. 91

PERSONAL TRAITS 11

in such a way that they will be obeyed cheerfully (and
consequently more effectively); he will find it possible
to rehearse longer with less fatigue both to himself and
to his musical forces; and he will be able to digest his
food and to sleep soundly after the rehearsal because he
is not worrying over trivial annoyances that, after all,
should have been dismissed with a laugh as soon as they
appeared. There must not of course be so much levity
that the. effectiveness of the rehearsal will be endangered,
but there is not much likelihood that this will happen;
whereas there seems to be considerable danger that
our rehearsals will become too cold and formal. A
writer on the psychology of laughter states that "laugh-
ter is man's best friend";* and in another place (p. 342)
says that the smile always brings to the mind "relaxation
from strain."

THE VALUE OF Creative imagination is an inborn
IMAGINATION quality— "a gift of the gods"— and if

IN CONDUCTING *V • j- -j i j -. •*

the individual does not possess it, very

little can be done for him in the artistic realm. Con-
structive or creative imagination implies the ability to
combine known elements in new ways — to use the mind
forwards, as it were. The possession of this trait makes
it possible to picture to oneself how things are going to
look or sound or feel before any actual sense experience
has taken place; to see into people's minds and often
find out in advance how they are going to react to a
projected situation; to combine chemical elements in
new ways and, thus create new substances; to plan
details of organization in a manufacturing establishment
or in an educational institution, and to be able to fore-
cast how these things are going to work out.

It is this quality of creative imagination that enables
the inventor to project his mind into the future and
see a continent spanned by railways and telephones,

* Sully, An Essay on Laughter.

12 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

and the barrier of an ocean broken down by means of
wireless and aeroplane; and in every case the inventor
works with old and well-known materials, being merely
enabled by the power of his creative faculties (as they
are erroneously called) to combine these known ma-
terials in new ways.

In the case of the musician, such creative imagination
has always been recognized as a sine qua non of original
composition, but its necessity has not always been so
clearly felt in the case of the performer. Upon analyzing
the situation it becomes evident, however, that the per-
former cannot possibly get from the composer his real
message unless he can follow him in his imagination,
and thus re-create the work. As for adding anything
original to what the composer has given, this is plainly
out of the question unless the interpreter is endowed
somewhat extensively with creative imagination; and
the possession of this quality will enable him to intro-
duce such subtle variations from a cut-and-dried,
merely accurate rendition as will make his perform-
ance seem really spontaneous, and will inevitably
arouse a more enthusiastic emotional response in the
listeners.

Weingartner sums up the value of imagination in the
final paragraph of one of the few really valuable books
on conducting at our disposal.*

More and more I have come to think that what decides the worth of con-
ducting is the degree of suggestive power that the conductor can exercise over
the performers. At the rehearsals he is mostly nothing more than a workman,
who schools the men under him so conscientiously and precisely that each of
them knows his place and what he has to do there; he first becomes an artist
when the moment comes for the production of the work. Not even the most
assiduous rehearsing, so necessary a prerequisite as this is, can so stimulate
the capacities of the players as the force of imagination of the conductor.
It is not the transference of his personal will, but the mysterious act of creation
that called the work itself into being takes place again in him, and transcend-
ing the narrow limits of reproduction, he becomes a new-creator, a self -creator.

* Weingartner. On Conducting, translated by Ernest Newman, p. 56.

PERSONAL TRAITS 13

This quality is indispensable to all musicians, be they
creators or performers, but is especially desirable in the
conductor, for he needs it not only from the standpoint
of interpretation, as already noted, but from that of
manager or organizer. Upon this latter point we shall
have more to say later, but it may be well to state just
here that if the conductor could imagine what was going
on in the minds of his players or singers, and could see
things from their viewpoint; if he tiould forecast the
effect of his explanatory directions or of his disciplinary
rulings, nine-tenths of all the quarreling, bickering, and
general dissatisfaction that so frequently mar the work
of any musical organization could easily be eliminated.
We might also add that if the conductor could only
foresee the effect upon his audiences of certain works, or
of certain interpretations, his plans would probably
often be materially altered.

organizing ability But the conductor must be more

AND A SENSE than a humorous-minded and

OF LEADERSHIP . ... • • tj *

imaginative musician. He must

also (especially in these modern times) be an organizer, a
business man, a leader. The qualities of leadership and
organizing ability are so closely connected, that we
shall for the most part treat them together in our dis-
cussion, and they are so important that a fairly exten-
sive analysis will be attempted.

In an article on Schumann in Grove s Dictionary
Dr. Philip Spitta, the well-known historian and
critic, comments upon the conducting of this famous
composer as follows:*

Schumann was sadly wanting in the real talent for conducting. All who
ever saw him conduct or played under his direction are agreed on this point.
Irrespective of the fact that conducting for any length of time tired him out,
he had neither the collectedness and prompt presence of mind, nor the sym-
pathetic faculty, nor the enterprising dash, without each of which conducting

* Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, New Edition, Vol. IV, p. 363.

14 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

in the true sense is impossible. He even found difficulty in starting at a given
tempo; nay, he even sometimes shrank from giving any initial beat, so that
some energetic pioneer would begin without waiting for the signal, and without
incurring Schumann's wrath! Besides this, any thorough practice, bit by bit,
with his orchestra, with instructive remarks by the way as to the mode of
execution, was impossible to this great artist, who in this respect was a striking
contrast to Mendelssohn. He would have a piece played through, and if it
did not answer to his wishes, have it repeated. If it went no better the second
or perhaps third time, he would be extremely angry at what he considered
the clumsiness, or even the ill-will of the players; but detailed remarks he
never made.

This estimate of Schumann's work as a conductor
demonstrates unmistakably that he failed in this par-
ticular field, not because his musical scholarship was
not adequate, but because he did not have that peculiar
ability which enables one man to dominate others:
viz., a sense of leadership, or personal magnetism, as it is
often called. Seidl asserts* that Berlioz, Massenet, and
Saint-Saens likewise failed as conductors, in spite of
recognized musicianship; and it is of course well known
that even Beethoven and Brahms could not conduct
their own works as well as some of their contemporaries
whdse names are now almost forgotten.

The feeling that one has the power to cause others to
do one's will seems in most cases to be inborn, at least
certain children display it at a very early age; and it is
usually the boys and girls who decide on the playground
what games shall be played next, or what mischief shall
now be entered upon, who later on become leaders in
their several fields of activity. And yet This sense of
leadership, or something closely approximating it, may
also be acquired, at least to a certain extent, by almost
any one who makes a consistent and intelligent attempt
in this direction. It is this latter fact which may en-
courage those of us who are not naturally as gifted along
these lines as we should like to be, and it is because of
this possibility of acquiring what in conducting amounts

* Seidl, The Music of the Modern World, Vol. 1, p. 106.

PERSONAL TRAITS 15

to an indispensable qualification that an attempt is
here made to analyze the thing called leadership into its
elements.

THE FIRST The primary basis upon which a sense of
ELEMENT IN leadership rests is undoubtedly confidence

T 17 A r^T7T)CT-ITT' —

in one's general ability and in one's knowl-
edge of the particular subject being handled. The
leader must not only know but must know that he
knows. This makes quick judgments possible, and the
leader and organizer must always be capable of making
such judgments, and of doing it with finality. The
baseball player must decide instantly whether to throw
the ball to "first," "second," "third," or "home," and
he must repeatedly make such decisions correctly before
he can become a strong and respected baseball captain^
The same thing holds true of the foreman in a factory,
and both baseball captain and factory foreman must not
only know every detail of the work done under them,
but must know that they know it, and must feel confident
of being able to cause those working under them to
carry it on as they conceive it. So the conductor must
not only know music, but must have confidence in his
ear, in his rhythmic precision, in his taste, in his judg-
ment of tempo, in short, in his musical scholarship;
and he must not only feel that he knows exactly what
should be done in any given situation, but be confident
that he can make his chorus or orchestra do it as he
wishes. Think for instance of securing a firm attack on
the first tone of such a song as the Marseillaise. It is
an extremely difficult thing to do, and it would be utterly
impossible to direct any one else exactly how to accom-
plish it; and yet, if the conductor knows exactly how
it must sound, if he has an auditory image of it before
the actual tones begin, and if he feels that when he begins
to beat time the chorus will sing as he has heard them
in imagination, then the expected result is almost cer-

16 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

tain to follow. But if he is uncertain or hesitant upon
any of these points, he will as surely fail to get a good
attack.

Such confidence in one's own ability as we have been
describing usually results in the acquiring of what is
called an easy manner, — self-possession, — in short, poise}
and it is the possession of such a bearing that gives us
confidence in the scholarship and ability of the leaders
in any type of activity. But the influence of this type
of manner cannot be permanent unless it rests upon a
foundation of really solid knowledge or ability.

THE SECOND The second element included in leadership
ELEMENT IN an(j organizing ability is the power to
LEADERSHIP , 14? i . i .1 . • 1

make onesell understood, that is, clear-
ness of speech and of expression. This involves prob-
ably first of all, so far as conducting is concerned, a
voice that can be easily heard, even in a fairly large
room, and that carries with it the tone of authority.
But it includes also a good command of language so that
one's ideas may be expressed clearly, and one's commands
given definitely. An important point to be noted in
this connection is that the conductor must be able to
exercise rigid self-control, so as not to become inco-
herent under stress of anger, emergencies, or other
excitement.

THE THIRD The final element involved in leadership is

ELEMENT IN a tremendous love of and respect \ for the

LEADERSHIP .,. .1 . • 1 • ~ 1 ~^j xT 1' u~
thing that is being done. ! JNapoleon be-
came a great general because of his confidence in his
own ability, and because of his very great enthusiasm
for his work. Lincoln became one of the greatest states-
men of all times largely because of his earnestness, his
extraordinary love and respect for the common people,
and his unfaltering confidence in the justice of the cause
for which the North was contending. Pestalozzi could

PERSONAL TRAITS 17

never have become one of the world's most influential
teachers if he had not felt that the thing he was trying
to do was a big thing, a vital thing in the life of his
country, and if he had not had a real love in his heart
for his work among the ragged and untrained urchins
whom he gathered about him.

And for the same reason it is clear that no one can
become a strong and forceful conductor who does not
have an overwhelming love of music in his heart. We
may go farther and say that no conductor can give a
really spirited reading of a musical composition if he
does not feel genuinely enthusiastic over the work being
performed, and that one reason for the sluggish response
that musicians often make to the conductor's baton is
the mediocrity of the music which they are being asked
to perform. The conductor is not in sympathy with it
(sometimes without realizing this himself), and there
is consequently no virility in the playing or singing.
The remedy for this state of affairs consists, first, in
allowing only those who have some taste in the selection
of music to conduct; and second, in inspiring all con-
ductors to take much more time and much greater pains
in deciding upon the works to be rehearsed. In direct-
ing a choir one may examine a dozen cantatas, or
twenty-five anthems, before one is found that is really
distinctive. If one stops at the second or third, and
thinks that although not very good yet it is possibly good
enough, very probably the choir will be found to be
sluggish and unresponsive, filled with what Coward calls
"inertia."* But if one goes on looking over more and
more selections until something really distinctive is dis-
covered, it is more than probable that the chorus will
respond with energy and enthusiasm.

We have heard many arguments in favor of teaching
children only the best music, and here is yet another,
perhaps more potent than all the rest. They must be

* Coward, Choral Technique and Interpretation, p. 73.

18 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

taught only good music because you as a musician will
find it impossible to become enthusiastic over mediocre
or poor works; and if you do not yourself glow over the
music that you are directing, you will hardly succeed in
arousing the children's interest, for enthusiasm spreads
by contagion, and there can be no spreading by contact
unless we have a point from which to start.

A sense of leadership consists, then, of a combination
of self-confidence and poise, clearness of speech and ex-
pression, and enthusiasm for one's work; and if with
these three there is mingled the ability to think clearly
and definitely, we have a combination that is bound to
produce distinctive results,, no matter what the field of
activity may be. Let us repeat that the encouraging
thing about the whole matter is the fact that most of
the things involved in leadership can be acquired, at
least to a certain degree, if persistent efforts are made
for a long enough time.

Before going on with the topic to be treated in the
next chapter, let us summarize the materials out of
which our conductor is to be fashioned. They are:

1. Innate musical ability.

2. A long period of broad and intelligent music study.

3. An attractive and engaging personality.

4. A sense of humor.

5. A creative imagination.

6. Conscious leadership and organizing ability.

Some of these qualities are admittedly almost dia-
metrically opposed to one another, and it is probably
because so few individuals combine such apparently
opposite traits that such a small number of musicians
succeed as conductors, and so few organizers and busi-
ness men succeed as musicians. But in spite of this
difficulty, we must insist again that any really tangible
and permanent success in conducting involves a com-
bination of these attributes, and that the conductor of
the future, even more than of the past, must possess

PERSONAL TRAITS 19

not only those qualities of the artist needed by the solo
performer, but must in addition be a good business
manager, an organizer, a tactician, a diplomat, a task-
master— in plain English, a good boss. It is primarily
because of the lack of these last-mentioned qualities
that most musicians fail as conductors. A writer in the
Canadian Journal of Music, signing himself Varasdin,
sums it up well in the following words:

He who wishes to " carry away " his body of players as well as his audience,
the former to a unanimously acted improvisation, the latter to a unanimously
felt emotion, needs above all "commanding personal magnetism," and every-
thing else must be subordinate to that.

He must be "very much alive" — (highly accumulated vital energy, always
ready to discharge, is the secret of all personal magnetism) — and the alertness,
the presence of mind, the acute and immediate perception of everything going
on during rehearsal or performance, the dominancy and impressiveness of his „
minutest gesture, the absolute self-possession and repose even in working up
the most exciting climaxes and in, effecting the most sudden contrasts — all these
are simply self-evident corollaries from our first and foremost requirement.

CHAPTER III

The Technique of the Baton

THE BATON Before giving actual directions for the
ITSELP manipulation of the conductor's baton, it

may be well to state that the stick itself
should be light in weight, light in color, and from six-
teen to twenty inches long. It must be thin and flexible,
and should taper gradually from the end held in the
g hand to the point. Batons of this kind can be manu-
factured easily at any ordinary planing mill where there
is a lathe. The kinds sold at stores are usually al-
together too thick and too heavy. If at any time some
adulating chorus or choir should present the conductor
with an ebony baton with silver mountings, he must
not feel that courtesy demands that it should be used in
conducting. The proper thing to do with such an in-
strument is to tie a ribbon around one end and hang it
on the wall as a decoration.

THE CONDUCTOR'S A word about the music desk may
MUSIC stand ajso ^e m orcjer at this time. It

should be made of wood or heavy
metal so that in conducting one need not constantly feel
that it is likely to be knocked over. The ordinary fold-
ing music stand made of light metal is altogether un-
suitable for a conductor's use. A good substantial stand
with a metal base and standard and wood top can be
purchased for from three to five dollars from any dealer
in musical instruments. If no money is available and
the stand is constructed at home, it may be well to note
that the base should be heavy, the upright about three

TECHNIQUE OF THE BATON 21

and a half feet high, and the top or desk about fourteen
by twenty inches. This top should tilt only slightly, so
that the conductor may glance from it to his performers
without too much change of focus. Our reason for
mentioning apparently trivial matters of this kind is to
guard against any possible distraction of the conductor's
mind by unimportant things. If these details are well
provided for in advance, he will be able while conduct-
ing to give his entire attention to the real work in
hand.

HOLDING The baton is ordinarily held between

AND WIELDING the thumb and first, second and third
THE BATON n u . .1 1 . >

lingers, but the conductor s grasp upon

it varies with the emotional quality of the music. Thus
in a dainty pianissimo passage, it is often held very
lightly between the thumb and the first two fingers,
while in a fortissimo one it is grasped tightly in the
closed fist, the tension of the muscles being symbolic of
the excitement expressed in the music at that point. All
muscles must be relaxed unless a contraction occurs
because of the conductor's response to emotional ten-
sion in the music. The wrist should be loose and
flexible, and the entire beat so full of grace that the
attention of the audience is never for an instant dis-
tracted from listening to the music by the conspicuous
awkwardness of the conductor's hand movements.
This grace in baton-manipulation need not interfere in
any way with the definiteness or precision of the beat.
In fact an easy, graceful beat usually results in a firmer
rhythmic response than a jerky, awkward one. For the
first beat of the measure the entire arm (upper as well
as lower) moves vigorously downward, but for the re-
maining beats the movement is mostly confined to the
elbow and wrist. In the case of a divided beat (see
pages 23 and 24) the movement comes almost entirely
from the wrist.

22 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

POSITION OF The hand manipulating the baton must al-
THE BATON wayS De \ie\d sufficiently high so as to be
easily seen by all performers, the elbow being
kept well away from the body, almost level with the
shoulder. The elevation of the baton, of course, de-
pends upon the size of the group being conducted, upon
the manner in which the performers are arranged, and
upon whether they are sitting or standing. The con-
ductor will accordingly vary its position according to the
exigencies of the occasion, always remembering that a
beat that cannot be easily seen will not be readily
followed.

PRINCIPLES AND If one observes the work of a num-
METHODS OF Der Qf conductors, it soon becomes

evident that, although at first they
appear to have absolutely different methods, there are
nevertheless certain fundamental underlying principles
in accordance with which each beats time, and it is
these general principles that we are to deal with in the
remainder of this chapter. It should be noted that
principles rather than methods are to be discussed, since
principles are universal, while methods are individual
and usually only local in their application.

DIAGRAMS OF The general direction of the baton

BATON MOVEMENTS movements now in universal use is
shown in the following figures.

In actual practice however, the baton moves from
point to point in a very much more complex fashion, and
in order to aid the learner still further in his analysis

TECHNIQUE OF THE BATON

23

of time beating an elaborated version of the foregoing
figures is supplied. It is of course understood that such
diagrams are of value only in giving a general idea of
these more complex movements and that they are not
to be followed minutely.

or

rb

TWO-BEAT MEASURE

1 2

THREE-BEAT MEASURE

i l 3

FOUR-BEAT MEASURE

SIX-BEAT MEASURE

*- 1

V 1

VERY SLOW
TWO-BEAT MEASURE

VERY SLOW
THREE-BEAT MEASURE

24

ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

9 87

SLOW FOUR-BEAT
MEASURE

321 45

SLOW NINE -BEAT
MEASURE

65* 32 73-g

SLOW TWELVE-BEAT MEASURE

An examination of these figures will show that
all baton movements are based upon four general
principles :

1. The strongest pulse of a measure (the first one) is always marked by a
down-beat. This principle is merely a specific application of the general fact
that a downward stroke is stronger than an upward one (cf. driving a nail).

2. The last pulse of a measure is always marked by an up-beat, since it is
generally the weakest part of the measure..

3. In three- and four-beat measures, the beats are so planned that there i*
never any danger of the hands colliding in conducting vigorous movements
that call for the use of the free hand as well as the one holding the baton.

4. In compound measures the secondary accent is marked by a beat al-
most as strong as that given the primary accent.

NUMBER OF beats The fact that a composition is

determined by tempo m 4-4 measure does not neces-

sarily mean that every measure
is to be directed by being given four actual beats, and
one of the things that the conductor must learn is when
to give more beats and when fewer.

If the tempo is very rapid, the 4-4 measure will

TECHNIQUE OF THE BATON 25

probably be given only two beats, but in an adagio move-
ment, as, e.g., the first part of the Messiah overture, it
may be necessary to beat eight for each measure in
order to insure rhythmic continuity. There are many
examples of triple measure in which the movement is
so rapid as to make it impracticable to beat three in a
measure, and the conductor is therefore content merely
to give a down-beat at the beginning of each measure;
waltzes are commonly conducted by giving a down- beat
for the first measure, an up-beat for the second, et cetera;
a six-part measure in rapid tempo receives but two beats:
while 9-8 and 12-8 are ordinarily given but three and
four beats respectively.

It is not only annoying but absolutely fatiguing to see
a conductor go through all manner of contortions in try-
ing to give a separate beat to each pulse of the measure
in rapid tempos; and the effect upon the performers is
even worse than upon the audience, for a stronger rhyth-
mic reaction will always be stimulated if the rhythm is
felt in larger units rather than in smaller ones. But on
the other nand, the tempo is sometimes so very slow
that no sense of continuity can be aroused by giving
only one beat for each pulse; hence, as already noted,
it is often best to give double the number of beats in-
dicated by the measure sign. In general, these two
ideas may be summarized in the following rule: As the
tempo becomes more rapid, decrease the number of beats;
but as it becomes slower, increase the number, at the same
time elaborating the beat so as to express more tangibly the
idea of a steady forward movement.

By carefully studying the second series of figures
given on pages 23 and 24 and by making certain that
the principle of "continuous movement" explained on
page 28 is observed, the student will be able to learn
the more highly elaborated beats employed in slower
tempos without very much difficulty. These diagrams,
like the first set, are, of course, intended to be sug-
gestive only.

26 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

SHALL WE BEAT In this same connection, the amateur
THE RHYTHM OR may perhaps raise the question as to

whether it is wise to beat the rhythm
or the pulse in such a measure as J Jj J J . In other
words, is it well to give a down-beat on 1, two small
beats toward the left for 2, while 3 and 4 are treated in
the ordinary way? This question may be answered by
referring to the rule given on page 25, but perhaps it will
be safer to make the application more specific by advising
the young conductor to adhere fairly closely to beating
the pulse unless a much slower tempo makes extra beats
necessary. The additional movements may be of some
service in certain cases, but in general they tend to con-
fuse rather than to clarify, this being especially true in
the case of syncopated rhythms. The only exceptions
to this principle are:

1. When a phrase begins with a tone that is on a fractional part of

the beat; e.g., if the preceding phrase ends with an eighth, thus:

|J J J /^ I gj s) \; for in this case the phrasing cannot be indi-
cated clearly without dividing the beat.

2. When there is a ritardando and it becomes necessary to give a larger
number of beats in order to show just how much slower the tempo is to be.
The second point is of course covered by the general rule already referred to.

The conductor must train himself to change instantly
from two beats in the measure to four or six; from one
to three, et cetera, so that he may be able at any time
to suit the number of beats to the character of the music
at that particular point. This is particularly necessary
in places where a ritardando makes it desirable from the
standpoint of the performers to have a larger number of
beats.

THE dotted-QUARTER Although covered in general by
AS A BEAT NOTE fae preceding discussion, it maj

perhaps be well to state specifi-
cally that the compound measures 6-8, 9-8, and 12-8 are
ordinarily taken as duple, triple, and quadruple measures,

TECHNIQUE OF THE BATON 27

respectively. In other words, the dotted-quarter-note
( J . ) is thought of as the beat note, some modern editors
going so far as to write ^ ■ in place of 6-8 as the measure
sign; f- in place of 9-8; and p- in place of 12-8. In
conducting these various types of measure, the general
principle given on page 25 again applies, and if the
tempo is very slow, the conductor beats 6, 9, or
12, to the measure, but if it is rapid, the flow of the
rhythm is much better indicated by 2, 3, and 4 beats
respectively.

FIVE- AND SEVEN- Although only occasionally encoun-
BEAT MEASURES tered by the amateur, five- and seven-
beat measures are now made use of
frequently enough by composers to make some explana-
tion of their treatment appropriate. A five-beat meas-
ure (quintuple) is a compound measure comprising a
two-beat and a three-beat one. Sometimes the two-
beat group is first, and sometimes the three-beat one.
If the former, then the conductors beat will be down-up,
down-right-up. But if it is the other way about, then
the beat will naturally be down-right-up, down-up.
"But how am I to know which comes first ?" asks the
tyro. And our answer is, "Study the music, and if you
cannot find out in this way, you ought not to be con-
ducting the composition/ '

Just as quintuple measure is a compound measure com-
prising two pulse-groups, one of three and the other of
two beats, so seven-beat measure (septuple) consists of
a four-beat group plus a three-beat one. If the four-
beat measure is first, the conductor's beat will be down-
left-right-up, down-right-up % i.e., the regular move-
ments for quadruple measure followed by those for
triple; but if the combination is three plus four, it will
be the other way about. Sometimes the composer helps
the conductor by placing a dotted bar between the two
parts of the septuple measure, thus : I J J J J • J J J |

28 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

AN important The most fundamental principle of
™ SiNG ^beating, and the one concerning

which the young conductor is apt to be
most ignorant, is the following: The baton must not
usually come to a standstill at the "points marking the beats,
neither must it move in a straight line from one point to
another, except in the case of the dovm beat, for it i* the
free and varying movement of the baton between any two
beats that gives the singers or players their cue as to where
the second of the two is to come. We may go further and
say that the preliminary movement made before the baton
arrives at what might be termed the "bottom" of the
beat is actually more important than the "bottom" of
the beat itself. When the baton is brought down for
the first beat of the measure, the muscles contract until
the imaginary point which the baton is to strike has
been reached, relaxing while the hand moves on to the
next point {i.e., the second beat) gradually contracting
again as this point is reached, and relaxing immediately
afterward as the hand moves on to the third beat. In
the diagrams ot baton movements given on preceding
pages, the accumulating force of muscular contraction is
shown by the gradually increasing thickness of the line,
proceeding from the initial part of the stroke to its cul-
mination; while the light curved line immediately fol-
lowing this culmination indicates the so-called "back-
stroke/ ' the muscular relaxation. It is easy to see
that this muscular contraction is what gives the beat
its defmiteness, its "bottom," while the relaxation is
what gives the effect of continuity or flow. It will be
noticed that when the baton is brought down on an
accented beat, the beginning of the back-stroke is felt by
the conductor as a sort of "rebound" of the baton from
the bottom of the beat, and this sensation of rebounding
helps greatly in giving "point" to these accented beats.
In order to understand fully the principle that we have
just been discussing, it must be recalled that rhythm is

if£¥<>

TECHNIQUE OF THE BATON 29

not a succession of jerks, but is basically a steady flow,
a regular succession of similar impulses, the word
rhythm itself coming from a Greek stem meaning "flow."
Like all other good things, this theory of continuous
movement may be carried to excess, and one occasion-
ally sees conducting that has so much "back-stroke"
that there is no definiteness of beat whatsoever; in other
words there is no "bottom" to the beat, and conse-
quently no precision in the conducting. But on the
other hand, there is to be observed also a great deal of
conducting in which the beats seem to be thought of as
imaginary points, the conductor apparently feeling that
it is his business to get from one to another of these
points in as straight a line as possible, and with no
relaxation of muscle whatever. Such conductors often
imagine that they are being very definite and very pre-
cise indeed in their directing, and have sometimes been
heard to remark that the singers or players whom they
were leading seemed exceedingly stupid about following
the beat, especially in the attacks. The real reason for
sluggish rhythmic response and poor attacks is, how-
ever, more often to be laid at the door of a poorly exe-
cuted beat by the conductor than to the stupidity of the
chorus or orchestra.*

* It is but a step from the conclusions arrived at above to a corollary relating to con-
ducting from the organ bench. How does it happen that most choirs directed by an
organist-conductor do not attack promptly, do not follow tempo changes readily, and
do not in general present examples of good ensemble performance? Is it not because
the organist is using his hands and feet lor other purposes, and cannot therefore indicate
to his singers the "continuous flow of rhythm" above referred to? When a conductor
directing with a baton wishes to indicate a ritardando, he does so not merely by making
the heats follow one another at longer intervals, but even more by making a more elabo-
rate and more extensive movement between the beat culminations; and the musicians
have no dilTicully in following the baton, because it is kept continuously in motion, the
points where the muscular contractions come being easily felt by the performers, because
they can thus follow the rhythm in their own muscles by instinctive imitation. But
when the organist-conductor wishes a ritardando. he merely plays more slowly, and the
Bingers must get their idea of the slower tempo entirely through the ear. Since rhythm
is a matter of muscle rather than of ear, it will be readily understood that conducting
and organ-playing will never go hand in hand to any very great extent. There is, of
course, another reason for the failure of many organists who 1ry to play and conduct
simultaneously, viz., that they are not able to do two things successfully at the same
time, so that the chorus is often left to work out its own salvation as best it may ; while,
if the conducting is done by using the left hand, the organ end of the combination is not
usually managed with any degree of distinction. Because of this and certain other well-
known reasons, the writer believes that choral music in general, and church music in
particular, would be greatly benetited by a widespread return to the mixed chorus, led
by a conductor with baton in hand, and accompanied by an organist.

30 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

HOW TO SECURE Coordinate with the discussion of con-
A FIRM ATTACK tinuous movement and back-stroke,

the following principle should be noted :
A preliminary movement sufficiently ample to be easily
followed by the eye must be made before actually giving the
beat upon which the singers or players are to begin the
tone, if the attack is to be delivered with precision and
confidence. Thus in the case of a composition beginning
upon the first beat of a measure, the conductor holds the
baton poised in full view of all performers, then, before
actually bringing it down for the attack, he raises it
slightly, this upward movement often corresponding to
the back-stroke between an imaginary preceding beat
and the actual beat with which the composition begins.
When a composition begins upon the weak beat {e.g., the
fourth beat of a four-pulse measure), the preceding
strong beat itself, together with the back-stroke accom-
panying it, is often given as the preparation for the
actual initial beat. In case this is done the conductor
must guard against making this preliminary strong beat
so prominent as to cause the performers to mistake it
for the actual signal to begin. If the first phrase begins
with an eighth-note (J* I J Jl J J I), give- a short beat
for 4 and an extra up-beat for the first note of the
phrase. If it begins with a sixteenth-note, do the same
thing, but make the extra up-beat with which the first
tone is to be coincident shorter and quicker. If a good
attack cannot be secured in any other way, beat an
entire preliminary measure until the attack goes well,
then adopt some such plan as has just been suggested.

THE RELEASE The preliminary up-beat which has just
been discussed is equally valuable as a
preparation for the "release" or "cut-off." The move-
ment for the release is usually a down stroke to
right or left, or even upward. It is customary not to
beat out the final measure of a composition or a com-

TECHNIQUE OF THE BATON 31

plete final section of a composition, but to bring the
baton down a few inches for the first beat of the measure,
and then to hold it poised in this position, either count-
ing the beats mentally, or trusting to feeling to determine
the time for stopping. A slight upward movement is
then made just before the tone is to be released, and it
is the warning conveyed by this preliminary movement
that enables the performers to release the tone at the
precise instant when the baton is brought down for the
cut-off. It should be noted that the release must come
at the end of the duration value of the final note. In
4-4 a final J . would therefore be held up to the begin-
ning of the fourth beat, i.e., until one is on the point of
counting four; a final o , until the beginning of the first
beat of the following measure. It is because of careless-
ness or ignorance on this point that composers now
sometimes resort to such devices as o 1/ i 1 — I to
show that the final tone has four full beats. In such a
case, the ending &^J* 1 I "I means exactly the same
thing as c? I '— " I, the tone being released precisely on
one of the following measure, in either case.

THE HOLD In the case of a hold (fermata), the move-
ment for the cut-off depends upon the nature
of what follows. If the tone to be prolonged forms the
end of a phrase or section, the baton is brought down
vigorously as at the end of a composition; but if the
hold occurs at the end of a phrase in such a way as not
to form a decided closing point, or if it occurs in the
midst of the phrase itself, the cut-off is not nearly so pro
nounced, and the conductor must exercise care to move
his baton in such a direction as to insure its being ready
to give a clear signal for the attack of the tone follow-
ing the hold. Thus, with a hold on the third beat,
! * p f f | the cut-off would probably be toward the
right and upward, this movement then serving also as
a preliminary for the fourth beat to follow.

32 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

the attack For working in rehearsal it is convenient

IN reading j-0 use some such exclamation as "Ready —
NEW MUSIC c. m (iT> , t>, „ . j 4.1

Sing, or Ready — Jrlay, m order that

amateur musicians may be enabled to attack the first

chord promptly, even in reading new music. In this case

the word "Ready" comes just before the preliminary

movement; the word "Sing" or "Play" being coincident

with the actual preliminary movement. In preparing

for a public performance, however, the conductor should

be careful not to use these words so much in rehearsing

that his musicians will have difficulty in making their

attacks without hearing them.

length OF The length and general character of the
THE stroke Daton movement depend upon the emo-
tional quality of the music being con-
ducted. A bright, snappy Scherzo in rapid tempo will
demand a short, vigorous beat, with almost no elabora-
tion of back-stroke; while for a slow and stately Choral,
a long, flowing beat with a highly-elaborated back-
stroke will be appropriate. The first beat of the phrase
in any kind of music is usually longer and more promi-
nent, in order that the various divisions of the design
may be clearly marked. It is in the length of the
stroke that the greatest diversity in time beating will
occur in the case of various individual conductors, and
it is neither possible nor advisable to give specific direc-
tions to the amateur. Suffice it to say, that if he under-
stands clearly the foregoing principles of handling the
baton, and if his musical feeling is genuine, there will
be little difficulty at this point.

NON-MEASURED The directions for beating time thus far
MUSIC given have, of course, referred exclu-

sively to what is termed "measured
music," i.e., music in which the rhythm consists of
groups of regularly spaced beats, the size and general

TECHNIQUE OF THE BATON 33

characteristics of the group depending upon the number
and position of the accents in each measure. There
exists, however, a certain amount of non-measured vocal
music, and a word concerning the most common varie-
ties (recitative and Anglican chant) will perhaps be in
order before closing our discussion of beating time.

RECITATIVE In conducting the accompaniment of a
vocal solo of the recitative style, and par-
ticularly that variety referred to as recitativo secco, the
most important baton movement is a down-beat after
each bar. The conductor usually follows the soloist
through the group of words found between two bars
with the conventional baton movements, but this does
not imply regularly spaced pulses as in the case of
measured music, and the beats do not correspond in any
way to those of the ordinary measure of rhythmic music.
They merely enable the accompanying players to tell at
approximately what point in the measure the singer is
at any given time, the up-beat at the end of the group
giving warning of the near approach of the next group.

THE ANGLICAN In the case of the Anglican chant, it
CHANT should be noted that there are two parts

to each verse: one, a reciting portion
in which there is no measured rhythm; the other, a
rhythmic portion in which the pulses occur as in meas-
ured music. In the reciting portion of the chant, the
rhythm is that of ordinary prose speech, punctuation
marks being observed as In conventional language read-
ing. This makes it far more difficult to keep the singers
together, and in order to secure uniformity, some con-
ductors give a slight movement of the baton for each
syllable; others depend upon a down -beat at the begin-
ning of each measure together with the lip movements
made by the conductor himself and followed minutely
by the chorus.

34 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

The beginning of the second part of the chant is indicated
by printing its first syllable in italics, by placing an accent
mark over it, or by some other similar device. This syllable
is then regarded as the first accented tone of the metrical
division of the chant, and, beginning with it, the con-
ductor beats time as in ordinary measured music. If
no other syllable follows the accented one before a bar
occurs, it is understood that the accented syllable is to
be held for two beats, i.e., a measure's duration. Final
ed is always pronounced as a separate syllable.

The most important thing for an amateur to learn
about conducting the Anglican chant is that before he
can successfully direct others in singing this type of
choral music, he must himself practically memorize each
chant. The amateur should perhaps also be warned
not to have the words of the first part of the chant
recited too rapidly. All too frequently there is so much
hurrying that only a few of the most prominent words
are distinguishable, most of the connecting words being
entirely lost. A more deliberate style of chanting than
that in ordinary use would be much more in keeping
with the idea of dignified worship. Before asking the
choir to sing a new chant, it is often well to have the
members recite it, thus emphasizing the fact that the
meaning of the text must be brought out in the singing.
In inaugurating chanting in churches where this form of
music has not previously formed a part of the service,
it will be well to have both choir and congregation sing
the melody in unison for a considerable period before
attempting to chant in parts.

THE NECESSITY Now that we have laid down the prin-

OF practice IN cip}es upon the basis of which our pro-

HAXDLING THE *• a + * + u + +'™ 1 *

b vton spective conductor is to beat time, let

us warn him once more that here, as in
other things, it is intelligent practice that makes per-
fect, and that if he is to learn to handle the baton sue-

TECHNJQUE OF THE BATON 35

cessfully, and particularly if he is to learn to do it so
well that he need never give the slightest thought to his
baton while actually conducting, hours of practice in
beating time will be necessary. This practising should
sometimes take place before a mirror, or better still, in
the presence of some critical friend, so that a graceful
rather than a grotesque style of handling the baton may
result; it should also be done with the metronome click-
ing or with some one playing the piano much of the time,
in order that the habit of maintaining an absolutely
steady, even tempo may evolve. The phonograph may
also be utilized for this purpose, and may well become
an indispensable factor in training conductors in the
future, it being possible in this way to study the ele-
ments of interpretation as well as to practise beating
time.

BATON technique It must not be imagined that if one
NOT SUFFICIENT js fortunate enough to acquire the
CONDUCTING style of handling the baton which we

have been advocating one will at
once achieve success as a conductor. The factors of
musical scholarship, personal magnetism, et cetera, men-
tioned in preceding pages, must still constitute the real
foundation of conducting. But granting the presence
of these other factors of endowment and preparation,
one may often achieve a higher degree of success if one
has developed also a well-defined and easily-followed
beat. It is for this reason that the technique of time
beating is worthy of some degree of serious investiga-
tion and of a reasonable amount of time spent in prac-
tice upon it.

CHAPTER IV

Interpretation in Conducting

introductory

the CONDUCTOR Interpretation from the standpoint of
AS INTERPRETER tne conductor differs from interpreta-
tion in singing and playing in that the
conductor must necessarily convey ideas or emotions to
his audience through an intermediary, viz., the orchestra
or chorus. He furthermore labors under the disad-
vantage of having to stand with his back (certainly the
least expressive part of man's physique) to the audience.
The pianist, singer, and violinist, on the other hand, face
their audiences; and because they themselves actually
do the performing, are able to work much more directly
upon the minds and emotions of their hearers. For
this reason, interpretation must be studied by the con-
ductor from a twofold basis:

1. From the standpoint of the expressive rendition of music in general.

2. From the standpoint of securing the expressive rendition of music front
a group of players or singers.

We shall devote this and the three following chapters
to a discussion of these two phases of interpretation.

INTERPRETATION The word interpret, as ordinarily
AND EXPRESSION used> means «to explain,"— "to eluci-
date, " — "to make clear the meaning
of," and this same definition of the word applies to
music as well, the conductor or performer "making
clear" to the audience the message given him by the
composer. It should be noted at once, however, that

INTERPRETATION IN CONDUCTING 37

interpretation in music is merely the process or means
for securing the larger thing called expression, and in
discussing this larger thing, the activity of two persons
is always assumed; one is the composer, the other the
performer. Which of these two is the more important
personage has been for many decades a much mooted
question among concert-goers. Considered from an in-
tellectual standpoint, there is no doubt whatever con-
cerning the supremacy of the composer; but when
viewred in the light of actual box office experience, on an
evening when Caruso or some other popular idol has
been slated to appear, and cannot do so because of in-
disposition, it would seem as if the performer were still
as far above the composer as he was in the days of
eighteenth-century opera in Italy.

It is the composer's function to write music of such a
character that when well performed it will occasion an
emotional reaction on the part of performer and listener.
Granting this type of music, it is the function of the per-
former or conductor to so interpret the music that an
appropriate emotional reaction will actually ensue. A
recent writer calls the performer a messenger from the
composer to the audience, and states* that —

As a messenger is accountable to both sender and recipient of his message,
so is the interpretative artist in a position of twofold trust and, therefore, of
twofold responsibility. The sender of his message — creative genius — is behind
him; before him sits an expectant and confiding audience, the sovereign ad-
dressee. The interpretative artist has, therefore, first to enter into the
spirit of his message; to penetrate its ultimate meaning; to read in, as well as
between, the lines. And then he has to train and develop his faculties of de-
livery, of vital production, to such a degree as to enable him to fix his message
decisively, and with no danger of being misunderstood, in the mind of his auditor.

This conception of the conductor's task demands from
him two things:

1. A careful, painstaking study of the work to be performed, so as to be-
come thoroughly familiar with its content and to discover its true emotional
significance.

* Constautin voii Sternberg, Ethics and Esthetics of Piano Playing, p. 10.

38 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

2. Such display of emotion in his conducting as will arouse a sympathetic
response, first on the part of orchestra and chorus, and then in turn in the
audience.

emotion IN Real interpretation, then, requires, on

INTERPRETATION the part of the COnductor, just as in

the case of the actor, a display of emo-
tion. Coldness and self-restraint will not suffice, for
these represent merely the intellectual aspect of the
art, and music is primarily a language of the emotions.
This difference constitutes the dividing line between per-
formances that merely arouse our judicial comment
"That was exceedingly well done"; and those on the
other hand that thrill us, carry us off our feet, sweep us
altogether out of our environment so that for the mo-
ment we forget where we are, lose sight temporarily of
our petty cares and grievances, and are permitted to
live for a little while in an altogether different world —
the world not of things and ambitions and cares, but of
ecstasy. Such performances and such an attitude on
the part of the listener are all too rare in these days of
smug intellectualism and hyper sophistication, and we
venture to assert that this is at least partly due to the
fact that many present-day conductors are intellectual
rather than emotional in their attitude.

It is this faculty of displaying emotion, of entirely sub-
merging himself in the work being performed, that gives
the veteran choral conductor Tomlins his phenomenal
hold on chorus and audience. In a performance of
choral works recently directed by this conductor, the
listener was made to feel at one moment the joy of
springtime, with roses blooming and lovers wooing, as a
fight, tuneful chorus in waltz movement was being per-
formed; then in a trice, one was whisked over to the
heart of Russia, and made to see, as though they were
actually present, a gang of boatmen as they toiled along
the bank of the Volga with the tow-rope over their

INTERPRETATION IN CONDUCTING 39

shoulders, tugging away at a barge which moved slowly
up from the distance, past a clump of trees, and then
gradually disappeared around a bend in the river; and
in yet another moment, one was thrilled through and
through with religious fervor in response to the grandeur
and majestic stateliness of the Mendelssohn Motet,
Judge Me, oh God.

It was interpretation of this type too that gave the
actor-singer Wullner such a tremendous hold upon his
audiences a few years ago, this artist achieving a veritable
triumph by the tremendous sincerity and vividness of
his dramatic impersonations in singing German Lieder.
in spite of the fact that he possessed a voice of only
average quality.

It was an emotional response of this character that
the Greek philosophers must have been thinking of
when they characterized drama as a "purge for the soul";
and surely it must still be good for human beings to for-
get themselves occasionally and to become merged in
this fashion in the wave of emotion felt by performer and
fellow-listener in response to the message of the composer.

It is emotion of this type also that the great com-
posers have sought to arouse through their noblest
compositions. Handel is said to have replied, when
congratulated upon the excellence of the entertainment
afforded by the Messiah, "I am sorry if I have only
entertained them; I hoped to do them good.,, An
English writer, in quoting this incident, adds:*

What Handel tried to do ... by wedding fine music to an inspiring text,
Beethoven succeeded in doing through instruments alone . . . for never
have instruments — no matter how pleasing they were in the past — been cap-
able of stirring the inmost feelings as they have done since the beginning of
the nineteenth century.

There is danger, of course, here as everywhere, that
one may go too far; and it is entirely conceivable that
both soloist and conductor might go to such extremes

* C. F. A. Williams, The Rhythm of Modern Music, p. 13.

40 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

in their display of emotion that the music would be
entirely distorted, losing what is after all its main raison
d'etre, viz., the element of beauty. But there seems at
present to be no especial danger that such an event will
occur; the tendency seems *ather to be toward over-
emphasizing intellectualism in music, and toward turn-
ing our art into a science.* The thing that we should
like to convince the prospective conductor of is that real
interpretation — i.e., genuinely expressive musical per-
formance— demands an actual display of emotion on the
part of the conductor if the ideal sort of reaction is to
be aroused in the audience.

In order to interpret a musical work, then, the con-
ductor himself must first study it so as to discover what
the composer intended to express. Having become
thoroughly permeated with the composer's message, he
may then by instinctive imitation arouse in his chorus
or orchestra so strong a reflection of this mood that
they will perform the work in the correct spirit, the
audience in turn catching its essential significance, and
each listener in his own way responding to the composer's
message.

DEFINITION OF Musical interpretation consists thus in
INTERPRETATION impressing upon the listener the essen-
tial character of the music by empha-
sizing the important elements and subordinating the
unimportant ones; by indicating in a clear-cut and un-
mistakable way the phrasing, and through skilful phras-
ing making evident the design of the composition as a

* This danger is especially insidious just now in our college and high school courses in
the appreciation of music. Instructors in such courses are often so zealous in causing
pupils to understand the machinery involved in the construction and rendition of music
that they sometimes forget to emphasize sufficiently the product resulting from all this
machinery, viz., beauty. The idea of these courses is most excellent, and in time those
in charge of them will doubtless realize that the heariug of actual music in the class-
room is more valuable to students than learning a mass of facts about it; and that if a
choice were necessary between a course in which there was opportunity for hearing a
a great deal of music without any comment, and one on the other hand in which there
was a great deal of comment without any music, the former would be infinitely preferable.
Hut such a choice is not necessary; and the ideal course in the Appreciation of Music
is one in which the student has opportunity for hearing a great deal of music with ap-
propriate comments by the instructor.

INTERPRETATION IN CONDUCTING 41

whole; and in general by so manipulating one's musical
forces that the hearer will not only continue to be
interested in the performance, but will feel or understand
the basic significance of the work being performed; will
catch and remember the important things in it, will not
have his attention distracted by comparatively unim-
portant details, and will thus have delivered to him the
real spirit of the composer's message. This implies
skilful accentuation of melody, subordination of accom-
paniment, increasing the tempo or force in some por-
tions, decreasing them in others, el cetera. Clear enun-
ciation and forceful declamation in choral music are also
included, and in it all, the performer or conductor must
so subordinate his own personality that the attention of
the listeners will be centered upon the composition and
not upon the eccentricities of dress or manner of the artist.

THE BOUNDARIES It is inevitable that there should be con-
OF MUSIC siderable difference of opinion among

composers, critics, listeners, and per-
formers, as to just what music may or may not legiti-
mately be expected to express. Some modern com-^
posers are apparently convinced that it ought to be pos-
sible through music to suggest pictures, tell stories, or
depict moral and intellectual struggles on the part of
the individual. Others contend that music exists solely
because of its own inherent beauty, that iLcan arojise
general emotional states only, and that if it is good
music, it needs no further meaning than this. Even
"pure music/ ' the champions of this latter idea urge,
may express an infinite variety of emotional tones, from
joy, encouragement, excitement, tenderness, expectancy,
invigoration, and tranquillity, to dread, oppression of
spirit, hesitation, harshness, and despondency. A
modern writer on esthetics treats this matter at length,
and finally concludes:*

* Gehrinc, The Basils of Musical. Pleasure, p. 89.

42 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

Is the symbolization pervasive enough to account for the steady continuing
charm of lengthy compositions? . . . The symbolizations . . . mostly re-
semble patches; they form no system, no plot or plan accompanying a work
from beginning to end; they only guarantee a fitful enjoyment — a fragment
here, a gleam there, but no growing organic exaltation like that actually af-
forded by musical compositions.

At another point in the same work, this writer again
discusses this same matter (page 120) :

Music is presentative in character, not representative. Measure, to be
sure, may correspond to the beating of the pulse, and the final cadence m&v
picture the satisfaction of desires; the coda may simulate a mental summary;
but the composition in its totality, with its particular melodies, harmonies,
and rhythms, and with the specific union of all these elements characteristic of
this composition, does not represent any definite psychical or material fact.

The majority of us would doubtless take a middle-
ground position, admitting the beauty and power of
music, per se, but acknowledging also the fact that ab-
stract beauty together with a certain amount of sug-
gested imagery, in combination, will usually make a
stronger appeal to the majority of people than either
element by itself. Many of us are entirely willing to
grant, therefore, that a more complex and more vividly
colored emotional state will probably result if the audi-
tor is furnished with the title or program of the work
being performed; but we contend nevertheless that this
music, regardless of its connection with imagery, must at
the same time be sound music, and that no matter how
vividly descriptive our tonal art may become, if it cannot
stand the test of many hearings as music, entirely apart
from the imagery aroused, it is not worthy to endure. It
is not the meaning of the music which makes us want to
hear it repeated, but its inherent beauty; it is not usually
our intellectual impression, but our emotional thrill
which we recall in thinking back over a past musical
experience.

Those of us who take the middle ground that we have
just been presenting contend also that descriptive music

INTERPRETATION IN CONDUCTING 43

can only legitimately arouse its appropriate imagery
when the essential idea has been supplied beforehand in
the form of a title or program, and that even then the
effect upon various individuals is, and may well be, quite
different, since each one has the music thrown, as it
were, upon the screen of his own personal experience.

EXPRESSION It will be noted that in this discussion

CONCERNS BOTH we are constantly using the word ex-

COMPOSER AND . * #.u * Jjjj'j ' ■*

iM^r*™*™™ pression from the twotold standpoint

of composer and performer, each hav-
ing an indispensable part in it, and neither being able to
get along without the other. But in our treatment of
conducting, we shall need to come back again and again
to the idea of expression from the standpoint of inter-
pretation, and in directing a piece of music we shall now
take it for granted that the composer has said something
which is worthy of being heard, and that as the inter-
mediary between composer and audience, we are attempt-
ing to interpret to the latter what the former has ex-
pressed in his composition. It should be noted in this
connection that wrong interpretation is possible in
music, even as in literature. One may so read a poem
that the hearer, without being in any way to blame, will
entirely miss the point. So also may one conduct a
musical work, whether it be a child's song or a sym-
phonic poem, in such a fashion that neither performers
nor audience gain a proper conception of what it means.

interpretation In the case of vocal music, the key to
IN vocal MUSIC the emotional content of the work

may almost always be found by care-
fully studying the words. In preparing to conduct
choral singing, master the text, therefore; read it aloud
as though declaiming to an audience; and when you
come to the performance, see that your vocalists sing
the music in such a way that the audience will be able

44 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

to catch without too great effort both the meaning of
the individual words and the spirit of the text as a whole.
The great Italian tenor Caruso expressed himself
forcibly upon this point during an interview for the
Christian Science Monitor, in 1913. In reply to the
question "Where do you locate the source of expression
in singing?" he said:

T find it in the words always. For unless I give my hearers what is in the
text, what can I give them? If I just produce tone, my singing has no meaning.

"Thereupon' ' (continues the interviewer), "vocalizing
a series of scale passages such as are used in studio
practice, Caruso commented":

Now, when I do that, I don't say anything. I may make musical sounds,
but I express nothing. I may even execute the notes with a good staccato
or legato (again illustrating with his voice) and still, having no words to go by,
I make no effect on my listeners.

Look at the question in another way. Suppose I were to sing a line of text
with a meaning in my voice that contradicted the idea of the words. Would
not that be nonsense? It would be as much as though I were to say to you
"This wood is hard," a»id were to say it with a soft voice. People have ob-
served that I sing as though I were talking. Well, that is just what I mean
to do.

"Singing, then* ' (the interviewer goes on), "as Caruso
began to define it, is a sort of exalted speech, its pur-
pose being to illuminate the imagery and sentiment of
language. The mere music of singing he seemed for the
moment to put in a subordinate place.

"By way of further emphasizing his point, he referred
to a theme in Donizetti's VElisir d'Amore, which is
used in two opposing situations — by the soprano in a
mood of joy, and by the tenor in a mood of sorrow. He
sang the measures of the soprano as though laughing.
Then he sang those of the tenor as though weeping."

"But those two passages of melody cannot be identical,'' objected the
interviewer.

"Oh, yes, they are," the tenor declared; and hequickly provedit by singing
them over again with a less marked indication of the moods. "Here you

INTERPRETATION IN CONDUCTING 45

plainly see where expression must sfart It has to be from the words, of
course. The performer puts in the feeling of gladness or sadness without
regard to the notes, paying attention only to the text."

Expression in choral music is dependent upon the text
to just as great an extent as in the case of solo singing;
and choral conductors may well ponder upon the above
words of one of the world's greatest singers, and apply
the lesson to their own problems. The average audience
is probably more interested in the words of vocal music
than in anything else; and since both vocal and choral
performances are usually given before "average audi-
ences' ' it behooves the conductor to look into the minds
of those before whom he is directing, and to adapt the
performance to the attitude of the listeners.

CHAPTER V

Interpretation in Conducting
{Continued) •

TEMPO

EXPRESSION IN In the last chapter we discussed expres-
INSTRUMENTAL sjon ancj interpretation from a general

standpoint, closing with certain com-
ments upon the interpretation of vocal music. But it
must be admitted at once that expression in instrumental
music is a vastly more intricate matter than in the case
of vocal music; and in order to get at the subject in any
tangible way, it will be necessary for us, first, to analyze
music into its expressional elements; second, to decide
which of these elements belong exclusively to the com-
poser and which are shared by the interpreter; and third,
to examine each of these latter elements in turn from
the standpoint of the conductor as interpreter.

THE ELEMENTS There are eight elements upon which
OF EXPRESSION expression in instrumental music rests.

These are:

1. Rhythm 3. Harmony i*. Timbre 7. Tempo

2. Melody 4. Pitch registers b\ Phrasing 8. Dynamics

Of these, the composer is able to indicate exactly the
first four, to convey his meaning fairly well in the fifth
and sixth, but to give only a relative idea of the seventh
and eighth. The interpreter is thus concerned with the
first four only as it becomes necessary for him to find
out from the notation what the composer intended to

TEMPO 47

express. On the other hand, he is considerably con-
cerned with the fifth and sixth factors (timbre and phras-
ing) and has the main responsibility in the last two
(tempo and dynamics). This being the case, we shall
treat tempo and dynamics first of all, as being the two
primary factors of expression with which the conductor
is concerned.

importance Wagner, in his famous essay on con-
OF TEMPO ducting, takes the rather radical ground
that everything else is dependent upon
the proper selection and management of tempo. He
says :*

The whole duty of the conductor is comprised in his ability always to indi-
cate the right tempo. His choice of tempi will show whether he understands
the piece or not . . . The true tempo induces correct force and expression.

In another place in the same work he treats the matter
further, as follows: (p. 34)

Obviously the proper pace of a piece of music is determined by the particu-
lar character of the rendering it requires. The question therefore comes to
this: Does the sustained, the cantilena, predominate, or the rhythmical move-
ment? The conductor should lead accordingly.

It is doubtful whether many modern conductors would
entirely agree with Wagner's statement that correct
tempo always "induces correct force and expression/ '
Nevertheless tempo is so important that probably no
one will quarrel with us if we at least give it first place
in the order in which the elements of expression are
discussed.

In modern music the composer indicates the tempos
of the various movements much more definitely than
was true in earlier days, so it would seem as if not nearly
so much responsibility rested upon the conductor; and
yet there is still a wide difference of opinion among
musicians about the matter, and in many cases the

* Wagner, On Conducting, translated by Dannreuther, p. 20.

48 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

conductor substitutes his own judgment for that of the
composer, assuming that the latter either made a mis-
take in indicating the tempo, or else that he had not
tried the composition at the tempo preferred by the
conductor, and therefore did not realize how much more
effective it would be that wTay.

finding the In the main, there are five methods

correct tempo Up0n which the conductor depends for

determining the correct tempo of a
composition. These are:

1. The metronome indication, found at the beginning of most modern
scores.

2. The tempo or mood expressions {andante, allegro, adagio, et cetera), which
have been in universal use for two centuries or more, and which are found in
practically all music, even when a metronome indication is also given.

3. The swing and, in vocal music, the general spirit of the text.

4. Tradition.

5. Individual judgment of tempo as depending upon and resulting from
the "quality" of the music.

Of these, the fifth, viz., individual judgment is most
important, and is the court of final resort in the case of
the mature musician; but the amateur who has had but
little experience and who is therefore without any well
developed musical taste must depend largely upon his
metronome, upon his knowledge of Italian tempo terms,
and upon tradition. A brief discussion of these matters
will accordingly be in order at this time.

THE metronome The metronome* is a sort of clock
as A TEMPO with inverted pendulum, the ticks or

clicks of which can be regulated as to
rate of speed by means of a sliding weight. When this weight
is set at the point marked 64, for example, the metronome

* The metronome is supposed to have been invented, or at least perfected, by a Bava-
rian named Maelzel, about 1815, and for many years the Maelzel metronome was the
only one in existence. Hence the letters M.M., still found in n»«ny scores, in connection
with tempo indications.

TEMPO 49

gives sixty-four clicks per minute; when set at 84, or
112, corresponding numbers of clicks per minute re-
sult; so that in this way the composer is able to indicate
precisely the rate of speed of his composition by indicat-
ing the number of beats per minute. The indication
J = 84 means that the sliding weight is to be set at the
point marked 84, the metronome then clicking eighty-
four times per minute, each of these clicks indicating a
quarter-note. But if the marking is J = 64, this means
that sixty-four half-notes are to be performed in a min-
ute,— a tempo equal to one hundred and twenty -eight
quarter-notes in the same composition. In compound
measures such as 6-8, 9-8, el cetera, the tempo indication
shows the number of eighth-notes per minute if the
composition is in slow tempo; but in moderate and rapid
tempos the direction is usually given by taking the
dotted-quarter-note as the beat unit, thus: J. = 84. It
is of course obvious that in this case the composer is
thinking of each measure as having only two or three
beats instead of six or nine. .

THE ITALIAN Many instrumental compositions (par-
TEMPO TERMS ticularly the older ones) are not provided
by the composer with definite tempo
directions; and in this case the Italian tempo terms
usually give at least a clue to what the composer has in
mind. These terms do not of course give us the precise
tempo, but by indicating the mood of a composition
they at least help one to determine the rate of speed
{adagio — at ease; allegro — cheerful; largo — large, broad;
andante — going; et cetera). A comprehensive knowledge
of these terms from the twofold standpoint of definition
and derivation is indispensable to the conductor. The
most common of them are therefore defined at this
point. They are given in groups in order that the stu-
dent may note how much the various terms overlap in
meaning.

50 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

The Very Slowest Tempo

larghissimo (superlative of largo)
adagissimo (superlative of adagio)
lentissimo (superlative of lento)

A Very Slow Tempo

largo (from Latin largus, meaning broad, large)
adagio (at ease)
lento (slow)

A Slow Tempo

larghetto (diminutive of largo)
adagietto (diminutive of adagio)

A Moderately Slow Tempo
andante (going or walking)

andantino (diminutive of andante and therefore meaning literally "going
less," but because of a misconception of meaning now often under
stood as meaning slightly faster than andante)

A Moderate Tempo
moderato

A Moderately Rapid Tempo
allegro (cheerful)
allegretto (diminutive of allegro; a little slower than allegro)

A Very Rapid Tempo

con moto (with motion)

vivo (lively)

vivace (vivacious)

presto (quick)

presto assai (very quick)

The Most Rapid Tempo Possible
prestissimo (superlative of presto)
vivacissimo (superlative of vivace)
allegrissimo (superlative of allegro)
prestissimo possibile (hypersuperlative of presto)

The expressions given above are frequently used in
combination with one another, and with certain auxiliary
terms, but to attempt to define these combinations in

TEMPO 51

this book would be altogether impracticable. The con-
ductor should however understand the significance of
the following qualifying expressions:

non tanto (not too much)

non troppo (not too much)

ma non tanto (but not too much)

ma non troppo (but not too much)

These expressions are used by the composer as a warn-
ing to the performer not to overdo any indicated effect.
Thus, largo, ma non troppo means that the composition
is to be taken slowly, but not too slowly. Presto (ma)
non troppo, on the other hand, indicates a rapid' tempo,
but not too rapid. For a fuller discussion of these mat-
ters, see the author's text book on terminology.*

The third means of finding tempo has already been
discussed, (see p. 45) and the fifth needs no further
explanation; but a word should perhaps be said to the
amateur about the matter of tradition. The young
conductor must not fail to take into consideration
the fact that there has grown up, in connection with
many of the classics, a well defined idea of the tempos
most appropriate to their rendition, and/ that any
pronounced departure from this traditional tempo is apt
to result in unfavorable criticism. Tradition is of course
apt to make us hide-bound in all sorts of ways, and
yet in many respects it is a very good thing, and before
our conductor attempts to direct standard works it will
be well for him to hear them rendered by some of the
better organizations, so that he may ascertain what
the traditional tempo is. In this way he may at least
avoid the accusation of ignorance which might other-
wise be made. This latter point will remind the reader
of the advice already so frequently given — viz., "study
music and listen to music a long time before you attempt
very much conducting. "

♦Gehrkens, Music Notation and Terminology. The A. S. Barnes Co., New York.

52 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

variation Our treatment of tempo thus far has taken
IN TEMPO cognizance of only the generalized tempo of
the movement, and we have not discussed
at all the much more difficult matter of variation in
tempo. The more evident changes of this sort are in-
dicated by the composer through such expressions as
ritardando, accelerando, ct cetera ; and it may be well to
give at this point a list of the commoner of these terms
together with their meanings. Obviously, such indica-
tions are of two general types dealing respectively with
increasing and decreasing speed, and we shall accordingly
give the definitions in two classes:

Terms Indicating a More Rapid Tempo

1. A gradual acceleration
accelerando
affrettando
stringendo

poco a poco animato

2. A definitely faster tempo at once

piii allegro
piu presto
piii animato
piii mosso
piii tosto
piii strctto
un poco animato

Terms Indicating a Slower Tempo

1 . A gradual retard
ritardando
rallcntando
slentando

2. A definitely slower tempo at once

piu lento
meno mosso
ritenuto

3. A slower tempo combined with an increase in power

largando \ ... .. ... , .,,.

„ , > (literally, becoming broad )

altar gando)

TEMPO 53

4. A slower tempo combined with a decrease in power
morendo )
perdendo

perdendosi] (L'sually translated, "gradually dying away")
calando
srnorzando j

(After any of the terms in the above list, a return to the normal tempo is
indicated by such expressions as a tempo, tempo primo, et cetera.)

tempo But in addition to the variations in tempo

MJANCES more or less definitely indicated by the com-
poser there are (particularly in modern
music) innumerable tempo fluctuations of a much sub-
tler nature; and since these are now recognized as a part
of really artistic choral and orchestral interpretation,
(as they have long formed an indispensable element in
expressive piano performance) a brief discussion of
their nature will be included before closing this chanter.
In some cases a variable tempo is asked for by the
composer by means of one of the following expressions:

teit'po rubato (literally, ''robbed time")
ad libitum (at pleasure)
a piacere (at pleasure)
a-eapriccio (at the caprice)
agitato (agitated^

(The term tempo giusto — in exact tempo — is the opposite of the above
expressions, and is used to indicate that the music is to be performed in
steady tempo.)

In the majority of cases, however, the composer gives
no indication whatsoever, and the whole responsibility
therefore rests upon the performer or conductor. It is
because of this latter fact that the amateur must study
these matters indefatigably. The advent of a more
elastic rhythm and tempo has undoubtedly made all
musical performance infinitely more pleasurable to the
listener than it formerly was; but unfortunately (es-
pecially since the advent o] Chopin's music) there has

54 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

been a great deal of misunderstanding as to the use and
meaning of this valuable new expressional element.

Tempo rubato may be compared to speaking certain
words more slowly or more rapidly in order that the
essential meaning of the entire sentence may be more
strongly impressed upon the listener. It must not how-
ever break up the continuity of the tempo; as one writer
has said "we must bend the tempo, but not break it."
Another well-known author, in treating the same point,
states that*

Freedom in tempo does not mean unsteadiness. . . . We must have in
music the sense^of equilibrium, of stability. A careless, spasmodic hurrying
and retarding leads only to flabbiness and inconsequence.

The most common kind of rubato is probably that in
whidh the first part of the phrase (up to the climax) is
accelerated, the climacteric tone lingered upon slightly,
then the remainder of the phrase rendered a tempo or
possibly slightly ritardando. But there are many phrases
that demand a totally different sort of treatment; e.g.,
a ritardando in the first part instead of an accelerando.
Which is the appropriate way of delivering any particu-
lar phrase must be determined in every case by musical
feeling.

The thing that the beginner is apt to forget at the
period when his musical feeling though sincere is yet
characterized by lack of refinement, is that these nuances
must always be subtle, and that the listener ought not
to have fluctuations in tempo thrust in his face at every
turn. Indeed we may say that he should hardly know
that they are present, unless he is making a definite
attempt to analyze the performance. The familiar
story of Chopin's breathing toward a candle flame and
making it flicker slightly, with the remark, "That is my
rubato," then blowing it violently out and saying "This
is yours," is quite to the point in this connection.

* Dickinson, The Education of a Music Lover, p. 21

TEMPO 55

It is of course understood that rubato is to be employed
almost exclusively in moderate or slow tempos, having
little or no place in rapid, strongly rhythmic music. It
should also be remarked that the more severe the form
of the music, — the more architectonic it is — the less
variation in tempo should there be in its rendition, for in
this type of music the expression is primarily intellectual.
Such instrumental works (of which certain compositions
of Bach and Mozart are typical) must not be played
sentimentally, as a modern English writer has remarked,
and yet they must be played with sentiment. The re-
marks of this same author may well be quoted in closing
this discussion:*

Rubato is necessary in emotional music and is an excellent means of pic-
turing longing, persuading, dreaming, et cetera. That is why its use is so character-
istic in performing the works of the romantic school and why it must be used
with su ch caution in the classics. The classic must be clear as daylight — the
structure must be evident even on the surface; but the romantic composition
needs often to be played in a veiled manner in order to produce atmosphere.
In such a case the rhythm is veiled as it were, draped in gauze, but the rhythmic
design is there under the veil just the same. To express calmness, decision,
et cetera, avoid rubato.

It must now be evident to the reader that this whole
matter of musical nuance is too subtle to be treated
adequately in a book of this character, and it becomes
necessary for us once more to advise the amateur to
study music, both vocal and instrumental, in order that
his latent musical feeling may be developed into a ripe
and adequate musical taste.

1 Y

TEMPO recorded In concluding the chapter let us emA ;
IN MUSCLES phasize the fact that the establishing

of a tempo is a matter of muscle even
more than of mind, and that before beginning to beat
time the conductor should have the tempo recorded in
his muscular memory. Before rising to conduct a com-

* Matthay, Musical Interpretation, p. 88.

56 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

position then let him feel its tempo in the muscles of
the arm and hand wielding the baton; for if not thus
felt, the work will rarely be begun with a clearly defined
Tate of speed. This consideration receives added weight
when it is recalled that if the conductor does not set
the tempo, the chorus accompanist or first violinist will,
and they, not having studied the music from this stand-
point, will rarely succeed in hitting upon the correct
rate of movement.

CHAPTER VI

Interpretation in Conducting
(Continued)

DYNAMICS

IMPORTANCE Another important factor in the express-
OF DYNAMICS jve rendition of music is dynamics, i.e.,
the relative loudness and softness of tone.
The composer is supposed to have a fairly large share
in this phase of expression, and in modern music
always indicates in the score at least the most important
dynamic changes that he has in mind. But our ob-
servation of musical performances tends to make us
feel that in this aspect, even more than in tempo changes,
it is the conductor or performer who must bear the greater
responsibility, and that the amount of dynamic con-
trast to be employed certainly depends entirely upon
the taste of the conductor or performer.

It is safe to say that the dynamic factor is easier to con-
trol than is the tempo, and yet in spite of this fact, there
is no question but that the rendition of most choral and
orchestral music could be made much more interesting
if it couid be given with a greater variety of dynamic
shading. Nor is there, in our opinion, any question but
that the changes from forte to piano and vice versa, the
gradually worked up crescendos, the vigorous accents on
certain important tones or chords, together with those
subtler shadings often referrred to as dynamic nuances,
may become just as important and powerful a means of
conveying emotional effects as tempo. Joy and triumph

58 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

and exuberance are of course expressed by forte and
fortissimo effects (the crowd_at_a football game does not
whisper its approval when its own team has made a
touch-down), but the image of a mother singing a
lullaby would demand altogether different dynamic
treatment.

The crescendo is one of the most powerful means of
expression that the composer has at his disposal —
especially in writing for the modern orchestra, but there
seems to be a good deal of misunderstanding on the
part of amateur conductors and performers about the
real meaning of the term. Crescendo does not mean
forte; indeed Weingartner (op. cit., p. 6) quotes von
Blilow as remarking that crescendo signifies piano, —
meaning of course that a crescendo usually implies a soft
beginning.

It should perhaps be noted at this point that there are
two varieties of crescendo; one being produced by perform-
ing succeeding tones each more loudly than the one im-
mediately preceding it; the other by prolonging the
same tone and increasing its power gradually as it con-
tinues to sound. The first type is much commoner than
the second, and is indeed the one kind of crescendo that
is possible in piano playing; but the second variety can
be secured in the case of an organ with swell box, the
human voice, and in both string and wind orchestral
instruments. Since some of the most beautiful musical
effects may be produced by the use of this second type
of crescendo, it should be employed very much more
than it is in choral and orchestral music. The English
conductor Coward takes the ground that the swell (a
combination of crescendo and diminuendo) is the most
powerful choral effect in existence.*

When the composer wishes to build up a really tre-
mendous climax and sweep all before him by the inten-
sity of the emotional excitement generated, he frequently

♦Coward, Choral Technique ami Interpretation, p. 112.

DYNAMICS 59

indicates an increase in the amount of tone, coupled with
a very gradual acceleration in tempo, all proceeding by
slow degrees, and perhaps accompanied by a rise from
a low pitch register to higher ones. If on the other
hand, he wants to let down in emotional intensity,
he does the opposite of all these things. The combina-
tion of crescendo and ritardando is also tremendously
effective.

In order to bring together in fairly comprehensive
array the terms that are ordinarily used by the composer
to indicate various expressional effects, a table of the
most frequently encountered dynamic expressions is here
included.

Pianississimo (ppv)\ , ,A, ., , ,

. . ., .. > (as softly as possible)

pianissimo possioile J

pianissimo (pp) (superlative of piano — very softly)

piano (p) (softly)

piil piano (more softly)

il piil pian ) (most softly)

piano assai (very softly)

mezzo-piano (mp) (moderately softly)
- forte (f) (loudly)

fortissimo (ff) (superlative of forte — very loudly)

fortississimo (///) (as loudly as possible)

piil forte (more loudly)

il piil forte (most loudly)

il piil forte possibile (as loudly as possible)
^-mezzo forte (mf) (moderately loudly)

forte-piano (fp) (loudly followed immediately by softly)

forzandfo (z) ) (These words and signs indicate that a single tone

sforzando (sf or sfz) or chord is to be accented, the amount of stress de-

forzato (fz) > pending upon the character of the passage and of

sforzato (sf or sfz) J the composition)

> or a J

rinforzando irinf) 1 (reinforced; a definite increase in power extending

rinforzato (rfz) J through a phrase or passage)

crescendo (cresc. or — ■ ■- ) (gradually becoming louder)

decrescendo (decresc. or — ■ — ) ) . , ., . . . s

... . ... N > (gradually becoming softer)

diminuendo {dim. or — — =="" ) J

crescendo poco a poco (becoming louder little by little)

crescendo subito (becoming louder immediately)

60 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

crescendo molto (becoming much louder)

crescendo al fortissimo (becoming gradually louder until the fortissimo point

has been reached)
crescendo poi diminuendo i
crescendo e diminuendo / ^radua11^ louder then gradually softer)

crescendo ed animando (gradually louder and faster)

diminuendo al pianissimo (becoming gradually softer until the pianissimo

point is reached)
morendo

perdendosi I (gradually dying away, i.e., becoming slower and softer by
smorzando ( very small degrees)
calando J

con amore (with tenderness)
con bravura (with boldness)
con energia (with energy)
con espressione

(with expression)
espressivo

con brio (with brilliancy)

confuoco (with fire)

con passione (with passion)

con grazia (with grace)

con tenerezza (with tenderness)

dolce (gently) (literally, sweetly)

giocoso (humorously) (cf. jocose)

giojoso (joyfully) (cf. joyous)

conmaesta ,

(majestically)

maestoso

pastorale (in pastoral, i.e., in simple and unaffected style)

pomposo (pompously)

scherzando

scherzoso J J° Dg ^
sotto voce (with subdued voice)

We shall close our discussion of the subject of dy-
namics with a brief presentation of a few practical
matters with which every amateur conductor should be
familiar.

The pianissimo of choruses and orchestras is sel-
dom soft enough. The extreme limit of soft tone is very
effective in both choral and orchestral music, and most
conductors seem to have no adequate notion of how soft
the tone may be made in such passages. This is es-
pecially true of chorus music in the church service; and

DYNAMICS Gl

even the gospel singer Sankey is said to have found that
the softest rather than the loudest singing was spiritually
the most impressive.*

Pianissimo singing or playing does not imply a slower
tempo, and in working with very soft passages the con-
ductor must be constantly on guard lest the performers
begin to "drag." If the same virile and spirited re-
sponse is insisted upon in such places as is demanded in
ordinary passages, the effect will be greatly improved,
and the singing moreover will not be nearly so likely to
fall from the pitch.

The most important voice from the standpoint of
melody must in some way be made to stand out above
the other parts. This may be done in two ways:

1. By making the melody louder than the other parts.

2. By subduing the other parts sufficiently to make the melody prom-
inent by contrast.

The second method is frequently the better of the two,
and should more frequently be made use of in ensemble
music than is now the case in amateur performance.

The conductor of the Russian Symphony Orchestra,
Modeste Altschuler, remarks on this point:

A melody runs through every piece, like a road through a country hillside.
The art of conducting is to clear the way for this melody, to see that no other
instruments interfere with those which are at the moment enunciating the
theme. It is something like steering an automobile. When the violins, for
instance, have the tune, I see to it that nobody hurries it or drags it or covers it
up.

In polyphonic music containing imitative passages,
the part having the subject must be louder than the
rest, especially at its first entrance. This is of course

* On the other hand, the criticism has been made in recent years that certain orchestral
conductors have not sufficiently taken into consideration the size and acoustics of the
auditoriums in which they were conducting, and have made their pianissimos so soft
that nothing at all could be heard in the back of the room. In order to satisfy himself
that the tone is as soft as possible, and yet that it is audible, it will be well for the con-
ductor to station some one of good judgment in the back of the auditorium during the
concert, this person later reporting to the conductor in some detail the effect of the
performance.

62 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

merely a corollary of the general proposition explained
under number three, above.

In vocal music the accent and crescendo marks
provided by the composer are often intended merely to
indicate the proper pronunciation of some part of the
text. Often, too, they assist in the declamation of the
text by indicating the climax of the phrase, i.e., the point
of greatest emphasis.

The dynamic directions provided by the composer
arc intended to indicate only the broader and more
obvious effects, and it will be necessary for the performer
to introduce many changes not indicated in the score.
Professor Edward Dickinson, in referring to this matter
in connection with piano playing, remarks: *

After all, it is only the broader, more general scheme of light and shade that
is furnished by the composer; the finer gradations, those subtle and immeasur-
able modifications of dynamic value which make a composition a palpitating,
coruscating thing of beauty, are wholly under the player's will.

In concluding our discussion of dynamics, let us em-
phasize again the fact that all expression signs are rela-
tive, never absolute, and that piano, crescendo, sfor-
zando, et cetera, are not intended to convey to the
performer any definite degree of power. It is because of
misunderstanding with regard to this point that dynamic
effects are so frequently overdone by amateurs, both
conductors and performers seeming to imagine that
every time the word crescendo occurs the performers are
to bow or blow or sing at the very top of their power;
and that sforzando means a violent accent approaching
the effect of a blast of dynamite, whether occurring in
the midst of a vigorous, spirited movement, or in a ten-
der lullaby. Berlioz, in the treatise on conducting ap-
pended to his monumental work on Orchestration, says: f

A conductor often demands from his players an exaggeration of the dynamic
nuances, either in this way to give proof of his ardor, or because he lacks fine*

* Dickinson, The Education of a Music Lover, p. 123.

t Berlioz, A Treatise on Modern Instrumentation and Orchestration, p. 255.

DYNAMICS 63

ness of musical perception. Simple shadings then become thick blurs, ac-
cents become passionate shrieks. The effects intended by the poor composer
are quite distorted and coarsened, and the attempts of the conductor to be
artistic, however honest they may be, remind us of the tenderness of the ass
in the fable, who knocked his master down in trying to caress him.

CHAPTER VII

Interpretation in Conducting
{Concluded)

TIMBRE, PHRASING, ET CETERA

IMPORTANCE OF Having devoted considerable space to

TIMBRE IN discussing the two expressional ele-

INTERPRETATION . , . ,. , ., ^

ments tor which the composer is

mainly responsible, let us now present briefly certain
matters connected with the other six elements in our
list (see p. 46). The two described as being partly
controlled by composer and partly by the interpreter
are timbre and phrasing, and we shall accordingly
treat these first. Timbre or tone-quality is less ini- / c) "fffl
portant than either tempo or dynamics, and is obvi-
ously less under the control of the conductor. The^ *
vocalist may be induced to sing more loudly or the
violinist to play more rapidly, but it is often impossible
to get either to so modify his actual tone quality as to
make his rendition more expressive. And yet, in spite
of this difficulty, there are many passages in both
choral and orchestral music in which the essential sig-
nificance depends absolutely upon beauty or ugliness
or plain tiveness or boldness of tone; and especially in
choral music is it possible for the conductor to induce his
chorus to bring out many more such effects than is usu-
ally done. A positively ugly and raspy vocal tone may
convey a certain dramatic effect that no mere variation
in dynamics is able to bring about, an example of this
being found in the Chorus of People who sing at various
points in the cantata by Dubois called The Seven Last

TIMBRE, PHRASING, ETC. 65

Words of Christ. Another very short passage of the same
sort is found in Stainer's Crucifixion in the scene at the
cross. Mr. Coward has written more in detail upon this
point than anyone else, and we may well quote his dis-
cussion of the topic "characterization."*

One of the distinguishing features of modern choral technique is what I
term "characterization," or realism of the sentiment expressed in the music.
Formerly this kind of singing was tabooed to such an extent that when in re-
hearsals and at concerts I induced the Sheffield Musical Union to sing with
graphic power musicians of the old school voted me a mad enthusiast, ex-
travagant, theatrical, ultra, and many other things of the same sort. These
people wondered why I wanted variety of tone color — who had ever heard of
such a demand from a choir? — and many of my friends even thought I was
demanding too much when, in rehearsing Berlioz's Faust, I asked for some-
thing harder in tone than the usual fluty, mellifluous sound in order to depict
the hearty laugh of the peasants in the first chorus. They were almost
scandalized when I asked for a somewhat raucous, devil-may-care carousal,
tone in the "Auerbach's Wine-cellar" scene, and when a fiendish, snarling
utterance was called for in the "Pandemonium" scene they thought I was
mad. However, the performance settled all these objections. It was seen
by contrast how ridiculous it was for a choir to laugh like Lord Dundreary
with a sort of throaty gurgle; how inane it was to depict wine-cellar revelry
with voices suggesting the sentimental drawing-room tenor, and how insipid
it was to portray fiendish glee within hell's portals with the staid decorum of a
body of local preachers of irreproachable character.

Of course the battle in the rehearsal room had to be fought sternly inch by
inch, but frequent trials, approval of the progress shown, and brilliant success
at the concert won the day. It was so convincing that many said they could
taste wine and smell brimstone.

Contrasts of tone-color, contrasts of differently placed choirs, contrasts
of sentiment — love, hate, hope, despair, joy, sorrow, brightness, gloom, pity,
scorn, prayer, praise, exaltation, depression, laughter, and tears — in fact all
the emotions and passions are now expected to be delineated by the voice
alone. It may be said, in passing, that in fulfilling these expectations choral
singing has entered on a new lease of life. Instead of the cry being raised that
the choral societies are doomed, we shall find that by absorbing the elixir of
characterization they have renewed their youth; and when the shallow pleasures
of the picture theater and the empty elements of the variety show have been
discovered to be unsatisfying to the normal aspirations of intellectual, moral

* Coward, Choral Technique and Interpretation, p. 73.

66 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

beings, the social, healthful, stimulating, intellectual, moral, and spiritual
uplift of the choral society will be appreciated more than ever.

Tender-handed stroke a nettle,

And it stings you for your pains,
Grasp it like a man of mettle,

And it soft as silk remains.

Before stating how to produce the laugh, the sob, the sigh, the snarl, the
moan, bell effects, ejaculations and "trick-singing," all of which come under
the head of characterization, I would say that if an ultra thing is undertaken
it must be done boldly. The spirit of the old rhyme above quoted must be
acted upon, or fear will paralyze the efforts put forth, and failure will be the
result. In choral singing, as in other things, the masculinity of the doing,
the boldness, the daring, the very audacity with which an extreme effect is
produced, carries success with it. Therefore do not attempt a daring thing
feebly or by halves.

TIMBRE IN In instrumental music, timbre is also a

INSTRUMENTAL highly potent influence in arousing emo-
tional states, and we are all familiar
with the fact that an [oboe passage is often associated
with the simplicity of outdoor jrural life; that a melody
for English horn has somehow become connected with
mournful thoughts ;\ the sound of trumpets, with martial
ideas ; and the grunting of the lower register of the bas^
soon, with comic effects. It is well known, also, that the
skilful violinist can cause his instrument to sound an
infinite variety of shades of color. But these means of
expression are almost wholly under the control of the
individual players and of the composer (as orchestrator),
and cannot therefore be profitably discussed in a work
on conducting.

PHRASING The phrase in music is very similar to the
phrase in language. In both cases, it is a
thought (usually incomplete and forming a part of some
larger idea) which must be slightly separated from the
preceding and following phrases, that it may be correctly

TIMBRE, PHRASING, ETC. 67

understood; yet must be so rendered in relation to the
neighboring material as to seem an integral part of the
whole. In addition, it is of course necessary to empha-
size the important words in a language phrase and the
most significant tones in a musical one, as well as to
subordinate the comparatively unimportant parts, in
such a way that the real significance of the whole may
be clear. Phrasing is thus readily seen to be an ex- >C
tremely important factor in the expressive reading of
language, since one could scarcely interpret intelligibly
if he did not first of all read as a group the words that
belong together as a thought; and one could certainly
not convey the correct idea of the group to a listener if
the most important words in it were not stressed so as
to stand out more vividly than the others. Although
not so readily understood because of the absence of
symbolism, phrasing is quite as important an element
in the expressive rendition of music as it is in the case
of language. In order to interpret properly the conduc-
tor must first of all determine what tones belong together
in a group; must make the individuality of these groups
evident by slightly separating them, but usually not to
the degree of disturbing the basic rhythmic flow; and
must so manage the dynamics and tempo of each phrase
as to make its content clear to the listener. Many
phrases are so constructed that their proper delivery
involves a gradual crescendo up to the climax (usually the
highest tone) and a corresponding diminuendo from this
point to the end of the phrase.

phrasing IN In vocal music, the matter of phrasing is
VOCAL MUSIC comparatively simple because here the
composer has, in general, adapted the
melody to the phrasing of the text; and since in language
we have definite ideas and concrete imagery to assist us,
all that we usually need to do in studying the phrasing
of vocal music is to follow carefully the phrasing of the

68 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

text. But even then a warning ought perhaps to be
given the young conductor regarding carelessness or
ignorance on the part of singers about some of the most
fundamental principles of phrasing. The most common
mistakes made are:

1 . Taking breath unnecessarily in the middle of a phrase.

2. Breathing between the syllables of a word.

3. Dividing a long phrase improperly.

4. Running over breathing places where a pause is really necessary in
order to bring out the meaning of the text.

5. Pronouncing the unaccented syllable of a word at the end of a phrase
with too much stress.

6. Failing to stress the climax sufficiently.

Mistakes of this kind are made because the singer all too
frequently fails to recognize the fact that the inter-
pretation of vocal music must be based upon the meaning
of the text rather than upon purely musical considera-
tions (cf. quotation from Caruso on page 44).

A comma or rest ordinarily indicates the end of a
phrase in vocal music. If, however, the phrase as marked
is too long to be taken in one breath, the conductor
should study it carefully for some point in it where
another breath may be taken without too greatly mar-
ring the continuity of the text. Sometimes in a large
chorus various sections of a division may take breath
at different points, thus preserving the integrity of the
phrase, in certain cases where this is particularly desir-
able. It should be noted that when a breath is taken in
the middle of a phrase or between the phrases where no
rest occurs, the time for breathing must always be taken
from the last note of the preceding phrase, in order that
the continuity of the rhythm may not be sacrificed.

The importance of studying phrasing from the stand-
point of the effective rendition of sacred music will be
realized more vividly if one takes the trouble to inquire
of some of the members of the congregation how well
they understood the words of the anthem or solo. The

TIMBRE, PHRASING, ETC. 69

replies that will ordinarily be given to such a question
will probably astonish the director of the church choir;
and although he will sometimes be inclined to put the
blame on the ears and minds of the congregation, there
is no doubt that in very many cases the difficulty may
be traced to poor enunciation and faulty phrasing on the
part of the singers. The following examples are reported
to be authentic instances of phrasing by church choirs:

Jesus lives no longer now,

Can thy terrors, Death, appall us?

The poet had quite a different thought in mind when
he penned these words, with the correct punctuation
marks :

Jesus lives! no longer now

Can thy terrors, Death, appall us!

The wild winds hushed the angry deep,
Sank like a little child to sleep.

What this verse means is, of course, easily seen by
inserting the correct punctuation marks:

The wild winds hushed; the angry deep
Sank like a little child to sleep.

PHRASING IN In instrumental music we have no defi-
INSTRUMENTAL n^e jdeas an(j no concrete imagery to

guide us ; and the conductor, in company
with all other students of instrumental music, will find
it necessary to study his score most carefully if he is to
unravel the threads that are woven together in such
complex fashion in orchestral music. As implied above,
phrasing in instrumental music means:

1. The grouping together of tones that belong to the same musical
thought, this implying a slight break in continuity between phrases, as in
language.

2. Making evident the musical significance of the group by accenting or
prolonging its most important tones.

70 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

These are only general principles, however, and the
details of phrasing in instrumental music cannot be
treated adequately in writing because of their too great
complexity. It is only through practice, reinforced by
the intelligent criticism of a real musician, that skill
and taste in the art of phrasing can be acquired. A few
concrete suggestions are offered, and these may be of
some slight help to the amateur, but they are not to be
thought of as "a complete guide."

1. The first tone of the phrase is often stressed slightly in order to mark
the beginning of the new idea.

2. The final tone (particularly of the short phrase) is commonly shortened
in order to make clear the separation between phrases.

3. The climacteric tone of the phrase is often prolonged slightly as well as
accented, in order to make its relationship to the other tones stand out clearly.

rhythm Closely connected with phrasing is rhythm,
and although the rhythmic factor should per-
haps theoretically belong wholly to the composer, since
he is able to express his rhythmic ideas in definite nota-
tion, yet in actual practice this does not prove to be the
case because the amateur player or singer so often finds
that "time is hard"; and there are consequently many
occasions when the rhythm indicated by the composer is
wholly distorted, either because the performers are weak
in their rhythmic feeling or because the conductor is
careless and does "not see to it that the rhythmic response
of his chorus or orchestra is accurate and incisive and
yet elastic.

Rhythm is the oldest of the musical elements and there
is no question but that the rhythmic appeal is still the
strongest of all for the majority of people. Rhythm is
the spark of life in music, therefore, woe to the composer
who attempts to substitute ethereal harmonies for virile
rhythms as a general principle of musical construction.
Mere tones, even though beautiful both in themselves
and through effective combination, are meaningless,

TIMBRE, PHRASING, ETC. 71

and it is only through rhythm that they become vital-
ized. In order to have interesting performances of
choral and orchestral music the conductor must see to it
that the performers play or sing all rhythmic figures
correctly, that long tones are sustained for their correct
duration, and that in general the musical performance
be permeated by that steady throb of regular pulsation
which is the foundation of all rhythmic coherence.

Modern musical rhythm is so complex in its frequent
employment of syncopations, "cross accents,' ' et cetera,
that the prospective conductor must study indefatigably if
he is to unravel its apparently inextricably snarled-up
threads. We assume, however, that detailed study of
rhythm has constituted a part of the student's work in
piano, singing, et cetera, and shall therefore not attempt to
treat the matter further. Let us advise the would-be
conductor, however, to continue his study of rhythm
and phrasing unceasingly and never to allow himself to
be deluded into believing that an accurate knowledge of
these things is less necessary now than formerly. It
has seemed to us that some public performers of the
present day were cloaking their inability to play or
sing with rhythmic accuracy under a pretense of being
highly artistic and flexible in their rhythmic feeling.
Needless to say, the existence of such a state of affairs
is to be greatly deplored and the student is admonished
to make sure that he is able to perform every detail of
his music with metronomic accuracy before he attempts
rubato effects.

melody, harmony, The second, third, and fourth of the
AND PITCH elements of expression as cited in our

list on page 46 belong almost wholly
to the composer since he is able to indicate them pre-
cisely, and the conductor's chief concern in dealing with
melody, harmony, and pitch registers will be to make
certain that the composer's wishes are carried out to

72 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

the letter. For this reason no attempt will be made to
discuss these matters further, the topic belonging to
composition rather than to conducting.

PHYSICAL MEANS Now that we have reviewed the ele-
USED BY THE ments of expression somewhat fullv,

CONDUCTOR FOR u * * *u j * a cu n •

indicating what of the conductor r bnall we give

EXPRESSIONAL him a set °f specific directions for

EFFECTS making his chorus or orchestra sing or

play more loudly or more rapidly or
more dramatically? Our reply is — no, not any more
than we should attempt to show the student of acting
or oratory exactly what gestures he is to make use of in
playing upon the emotions of his audience. As implied
at the outset, the thing that is necessary in both cases is
that the interpreter have:

1. General scholarship.

2. An intimate acquaintance with the content and spirit of the particular
work to be interpreted.

Granting the presence of these two things, the actual
gestures will usually take care of themselves. The con-
ductor Altschuler remarks on this point:

There is no artificial code of signals needed between the conductor and his
men; what the conductor needs is a clear conception of the composition.

We are fully in accord with this sentiment; but for the
benefit of the tyro it may be well to note again that, in
general, a quickening of tempo is indicated by a shorter,
more vigorous stroke of the baton, whereas a slowing
down in rate of speed, especially when accompanied by
a letting down of emotional intensity, involves a longer,
more flowing movement, with more back stroke. Louder
tone is often indicated by the clenched fist, the fortissimo
effect at the climacteric point often involving a strong
muscular contraction in the entire body; while softer
tone is frequently called for by holding the left hand

TIMBRE, PHRASING, ETC. 73

out with palm down, by loosening the grip upon the
baton, and by a generally relaxed condition of the entire
body. Dynamic changes are also indicated to a certain
extent by the amplitude of the beat and by the position
of the hands. In calling for a pianissimo effect, the
conductor usually gives short beats with the hands close
together (if the left hand is also used), but in demand-
ing fortissimo the beat is usually of much greater ampli-
tude, and the hands, therefore, widely separated. For
the swell ( — == - ) the hands are usually

close together at the beginning, are then gradually sepa-
rated as far as possible, coming together again at the
end of the decrescendo.

Changes in quality are perhaps most frequently sug-
gested by variation in the facial expression, poise of
body, et cetera, while phrasing is often indicated by a
movement of the left hand (thus signaling some part to
begin or stop) or by a lifting of the arms and shoulders
at the breathing point, thus simulating the action of
the lungs in taking breath, and causing the singers or
players actually to take a breath by instinctive imitation.
The manner in which the baton is grasped and manipu-
lated is of course another way of indicating these various
expressional effects, this being especially noticeable in
the case of phrasing, which is perhaps most often indi-
cated by simply raising the baton higher at the end of
a phrase, thus preparing it for a longer sweep at the
beginning of the following phrase. But all of these
things are done in different ways by various conductors,
and no set rules can therefore be formulated.

The most important point to be noted by the begin-
ner in conducting is that one must not direct with merely
the hand and arm, but must use the entire body from
head to toe in communicating to his chorus or orchestra
his own emotion. Facial expression, the manner of
grasping the baton, the set of the shoulders, the eleva-
tion of the chest, the position of the feet, the poise of the

74 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

head — all these must be indicative of the emotional tone
of the music being rendered. But be sure you feel a
genuine emotion which leads you to do these various
things, and do not play to the audience by going through
all kinds of contortions that are not prompted at all by
the meaning of the music, but are called into existence
entirely by the conductor's desire to have the audience
think that he is a great interpreter. If the conductor
does his work at any point in such a fashion that the
audience watches him and is filled with marvel and ad-
miration because of the interesting movements that he
is making, instead of listening to the chorus or orchestra
and being thrilled by the beautiful music that is being
heard, then that conductor is retarding rather than
advancing the progress of art appreciation; in short he
is failing in his mission. One of the sincerest compli-
ments that the writer has ever received came when he
asked his wife whether he had conducted well at a cer-
tain public performance, and she replied that she
guessed it was all right, but that she had been so ab-
sorbed in listening to the music that she had not thought
of him at all!

The development of modern orchestral and operatic
music has brought about a tremendous change in the
prominence of the conductor, and there is no doubt but
that his part in musical performance is now more im-
portant than that of any other type of interpreter, being
probably second in importance only to that of the com-
poser. From having been originally a mere time-
beater, he has now come to be the interpreter par excel-
lence; and as Weingartner remarks {op. cit., p. 9) in
referring to Wagner's conducting:

He is often able to transform as if by magic a more or less indefinite sound
picture into a beautifully shaped, heart-moving vision, making people ask
themselves in astonishment how it is that this work which they had long
thought they knew should have all at once become quite another thing. And
the unprejudiced mind joyfully confesses, "Thus, thus, must it be."

TIMBRE, PHRASING, ETC. 75

It will soon be discovered by the amateur that in
every case where an effect such as that described by
Weingartner has been brought about, it is because the
conductor has studied the music and has then made
gestures which were prompted by his sympathetic re-
sponse to the thought of the composer. In other words,
the conducting was effective because the feeling which
prompted the gestures came from within, as is always
the case when an orator or an actor moves us deeply.
This is what is meant by interpretation in conducting;
and we can scarcely do better, in concluding our discus-
sion of the whole matter, than to quote once more from
a writer to whom we have already referred.*

The great interpreters of instrumental music are those who can most
nearly enter into the composer's ideals, or can even improve upon them, and
who are able to give a delicacy or force of accentuation or phrasing which it is
outside of the possibility of notation to express. . . . The days of cold,
classical performance of great works are practically over. The executant or
conductor now seeks to stir the deeper emotions of his audience, and to do so he
must pay homage to the artist who conceived the work, by interpreting it with
enthusiasm and warmth.

* C. F. A. Williams, The Rhythm of Modern Music, p. 18.

CHAPTER VIII

The Supervisor of Music as Conductor

THE FIELD OF The phenomenal progress which has
SCHOOL MUSIC been made during recent years in the
music departments of both the grades
and the high schools of our great public educational
systems, together with the fact that a large number of
young men and women of real musical ability are enter-
ing the field of public school music as a life work, make
it seem worth while to include a chapter upon the work
of the music supervisor as conductor. The writer has
long contended that the public school systems of this
country offered the most significant opportunity for
influencing the musical taste of a nation that has ever
existed. If this be true, then it is highly important that
the teachers of music in these school systems shall be
men and women who are, in the first place, thoroughly
trained musicians; in the second place, broadly educated
along general lines; and in the third place, imbued with
a knowledge concerning, and a spirit of enthusiasm for,
what free education along cultural lines is able to ac-
complish in the lives of the common people. In con-
nection with this latter kind of knowledge, the super-
visor of music will, of course, need also to become some-
what intimately acquainted with certain basic principles
and practical methods of both general pedagogy and
music education.

We are not writing a treatise on music in the public
schools, and shall therefore not attempt to acquaint the
reader, in the space of one chapter, with even the funda-
mental principles of school music teaching. We shall

MUSIC SUPERVISOR AS CONDUCTOR 77

merely call attention to certain phases of the super-
visor's work that seem to come within the scope of a
book on conducting.

DIFFICULTIES The first point that we should like to

INVOLVED IN have noted in this connection is that

TEACHING LARGE . i • te £ . .

GROUPS teaching a group of from forty to one

hundred children all at the same time
is a vastly different matter from giving individual in-
struction to a number of pupils separately. The teacher
of a class needs to be much more energetic, much more
magnetic, much more capable of keeping things moving
and of keeping everyone interested in the work and
therefore out of mischief; he needs, in short, to possess
in high degree those qualities involved in leadership
and organization that were cited in an earlier chapter as
necessary for the conductor in general. In teaching
individual pupils one need not usually think of the prob-
lem of discipline at all; but, in giving instruction to a
class of from thirty to forty children in the public schools,
one inevitably finds in the same group those with musical
ability and those without it; those who are interested
in the music lesson and those who are indifferent or
even openly scornful; those who are full of energy and
enthusiasm and those who are lazy and indifferent and
will do only what they are made to do; those who have
had lessons on piano or violin and have acquired con-
siderable proficiency in performance, and those who have
just come in from an outlying rural school where no
music has ever been taught, and are therefore not able
to read music, have no musical perception or taste what-
soever, and are frequently not even able to "carry a
tune." In dealing with such heterogeneous classes, prob-
lems of discipline as well as problems of pedagogy are
bound to arise, and it requires rare tact and skill in
working out details of procedure, as well as a broad vision
of the ultimate end to be accomplished, to bring order

78 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

out of such musical chaos. Aud yet precisely this result
is being secured by hundreds of music teachers and super-
visors all over the country; and the musical effects of a
fifteen-minute daily practice period are already surpris-
ingly evident, and will undoubtedly become more and
more manifest as the years go by. The outlook for the
future is wholly inspiring indeed; and no musician need
fear that in taking up public school music he is entering
upon a field of work which is too small for one of his
caliber. The only question to be asked in such a case is
whether the teacher in question is big enough and is
sufficiently trained along musical, general, and peda-
gogical lines to handle this important task in such
fashion as to insure a result commensurate with the
opportunity.

THE ADVANTAGES Charm of personality has a great
OF AN ATTRACTIVE (jeaj ^0 ^Q ^th the success of many

directors of children's singing. School
superintendents are well aware of this fact, and of two
equally capable candidates for a school position (espe-
cially one involving work with small children) the super-
visor who is attractive in appearance and neat in attire,
is almost sure to be chosen. We mention this fact not
in order to discourage those not possessing an average
amount of personal charm, but to encourage them to
take physical exercise, and by other means to increase
the attractiveness of their physical appearance; to
enhance their charm further by tasteful dress; and most
important of all, to cultivate a sprightly and cheerful
attitude (but not a patronizing and gushing manner)
toward children as well as adults. Attractiveness of
personality may be increased further by the cultiva-
tion of refined language and a well-modulated voice in
speaking, as well as by schooling oneself in the habit-
ual use of the utmost courtesy in dealing with all
people.

MUSIC SUPERVISOR AS CONDUCTOR 79

DIRECTING In the lower grades, it is best not to conduct
YOUNG formally with baton in hand, but rather to

stand (or sit) before the class, and by facial ex-
pression, significant gesture, bodily pose, et cetera, arouse
an appropriate response to the "expression" of the
song. Every song tells a story of some sort and even
little children can be caused to sing with surprisingly
good * 'expression* ' if the teacher makes a consistent
effort to arouse the correct mental and emotional
attitude toward each individual song every time it
is sung.

DIRECTING In teaching a class of older children,

older CHILDREN ft js we\\ for j-ne supervisor to stand

at the front of the room with baton in
hand, giving the conventional signals for attack and re-
lease and beating time in the usual way during at least
a part of each song in order that the children may be-
come accustomed to following a conductor's beat. It
is not necessary to beat time constantly, and the teacher,
after giving the signal for the attack and setting the
tempo, may lower the baton, until a fermata, or a ritar-
dando, or the final tone of the song makes its use neces-
sary again.

A word of warning should perhaps be inserted at this
point against tapping with the baton, counting aloud,
beating time with the foot, et cetera, on the teacher's
part. These various activities may occasionally be
necessary, in order to prevent dragging, to change the
tempo, to get a clear and incisive rhythmic response in
a certain passage, et cetera; but their habitual employ-
ment is not only exceedingly inartistic, but is positively
injurious to the rhythmic sense of the children, because
it takes away from them the opportunity (or rather
necessity) of each one making his own individual mus-
cular response to the rhythm of the music. The more
responsibility the teacher takes, the less the pupils will

80 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

assume, and in this way they are deprived of the prac-
tice which they need in working out the rhythm for
themselves, the result often being that a group of chil-
dren get to the point where they cannot "keep time"
at all unless some one counts aloud or pounds the desk
with a ruler as an accompaniment to their singing.

THE SELECTION A very large element in the success of

OF music FOR all public performances is the selection

GRADE CHILDREN / . . if . , , . £ . T

ot just the right type 01 music. In
the case of small children, unison songs with attractive
music and childlike texts should.be chosen. When the
children are somewhat older (from eight or nine to
twelve) longer and more elaborate unison songs provided
with musicianly accompaniments may be selected, while
rounds and unaccompanied part songs are effective by
way of contrast. In the case of upper-grade children,
part songs (sometimes even with a bass part, if there are
enough changed voices to carry it successfully) are best.
But it should be noted that the voices in these upper
grades are not usually so clear and brilliant as they have
been in the two or three preceding years, the beauty
and brilliancy of the child's voice culminating at about
the Sixth Grade.

THE HIGH SCHOOL In planning public performances for
CHORUS IN PUBLIC a high scho6l cn0rus, many difficult

questions arise. Shall the program
consist of miscellaneous selections or of a connected
work? If the latter, shall it be of the operatic type, in-
volving action, scenery, and costumes, or shall it be
of the cantata or oratorio type? And if the latter, shall
heavy works like the Messiah and Elijah be given, or
shall our efforts be confined to presenting the shorter
and simpler modern works which are musically interest-
ing and in the rendition of which the immature voices

MUSIC SUPERVISOR AS CONDUCTOR 81

of adolescent boys and girls are not so likely to be
strained? A discussion of these matters properly be-
longs in a treatise on public school music, and we can
only state our belief here that, in general, the musical
development of the children will be more directly
fostered by practice upon choral rather than upon
operatic works; and that extreme care must be exer-
cised by the high school chorus director in handling im-
mature voices lest they be strained in the enthusiasm of
singing music written for mature adult voices. Whether
this implies the entire elimination of the Messiah and
other similar works, is left to the discretion of each in-
dividual supervisor, it being our task merely to point
out the responsibility of the high school chorus director
for recognizing the difference between mature voices
and immature ones.

THE PUBLIC In giving public performances with a
PERFORMANCE Jarge group of small children, the direc-
tor will need to learn that it is necessary
to teach in advance the precise shading to be employed
at the performance. In working with an adult chorus,
the conductor expects every singer to watch him closely
throughout the selection, and many slight changes of
tempo and dynamics are made at the performance that
have perhaps never been thought of during the rehearsal.
But children are usually not able to keep their minds
on the task in hand to this extent, and if there is to be a
ritardando or a crescendo at a certain point, the only safe
thing is to teach this change in tempo or dynamics
when first taking up the song, so that the expressional
element may become a habit in the same way- as the
tones and rhythms. This is particularly necessary in
teaching the same songs to several different groups
separately in preparation for a public performance in
which various groups that have not practised together
are to sing the same numbers.

82 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

ATTITUDE OF the The conductor must always appear
conductor AT cheerful and confident when con-

THE PERFORMANCE , .. , -i , / £ ., . ..

ducting children (or tor that matter,
adults) in public, for if he seems anxious and distressed,
or worse yet, if he informs the singers that he is afraid
that they will not do well, his uneasiness is almost sure
to be communicated to the performers and there will
probably be a panic and perhaps even a breakdown.
If the conductor seriously feels that the compositions to
be performed have not been rehearsed sufficiently, it
will be far better for him either to insist upon extra re-
hearsals (even at considerable inconvenience), or else
upon a postponement of the performance. A good
rule to follow in preparing for a public performance of
any kind is this: Go through the work over and over until
it is done correctly; then go through it enough times more
to fix this correct way in mind and muscle as a habit.
Too many performances are given upon an inadequate
rehearsal basis, and it has happened again and again
that performers have been so busy watching the notes
that they have had no time to watch the conductor,
and the rendition of really beautiful music has been
made in a tame, groping, and consequently uninterest-
ing manner. Our American impatience with slow proc-
esses of any sort is as often to blame here as the negli-
gence of the conductor, the latter often arranging to
have a performance at an earlier date than he really
wishes to because he knows that his chorus will become
impatient with the large number of repetitions that a
really artistic performance requires.

THE HIGH SCHOOL In directing a large high school
CHORUS chorus (sometimes numbering from

five hundred to fifteen hundred
singers), the conductor will find it necessary to study
his score in advance even more than usual, for here he
is dealing with large numbers of bright and lively Ameri-

MUSIC SUPERVISOR AS CONDUCTOR

83

can boys and girls, many of whom are not particularly
interested in the chorus practice and all of whom love
to indulge in mischievous pranks of various sorts. The
conductor who is likely to be most successful in handling
such a chorus is he who, other things being equal, has
prepared his work most thoroughly and is able to con-
duct without looking at his music at all, and who can,
therefore, keep things moving throughout the rehearsal
period. We might add that if he does not keep things
moving musically, the students in his chorus will keep
them moving along other and probably less desirable
lines !

SEATING THE Many other topics might be discussed
HIGH SCHOOL jn this chapter but the subject is too
complex for adequate treatment except
in a work dealing with this one subject alone. Let us,
therefore, close the chapter by giving a plan for seating
the high school chorus that has been found effective in
various schools where it has been used.

Mezzo-soprano

girls
singing soprano

Mezzo-soprano

girls

singing alto

Girl
Sopranos

Tenors

Baritones

and

Basses

Girl
Altos

Boy
Sopranos

Boy

Altos

Director

Piano

SEATING PLAN FOR A HIGH SCHOOL CHORUS

84 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

The advantages of the plan given above are:

1. That it places the boys in front where their less developed voicei
and often smaller numbers will insure better balance,* and where also the
teacher can more easily see what is going on in their midst.

2. It places all the boys in the same part of the room and thus re-
moves the chief objection that boys with unchanged voices make to singing
soprano and alto. There will probably not be a great number of these
unchanged voices in any ordinary high school chorus, but there are almost
certain to be a few, and these few should not be attempting to sing tenor
or bass when their voice-range is still that of soprano or alto.

3. By placing the mezzo voices (of which variety there are usually more
than of any other) between the sopranos and altos, they can be used on
either the soprano or alto part, as may be necessitated by the range and
dynamic demands of the composition in hand. In seating these mezzo-
soprano girls the teacher may furthermore allow those who, although hav-
ing mezzo voices, prefer to sing the alto part, to sit on the side next to the
alto section and the others on the side next to the soprano section. If
there are any boys with unchanged voices who are mezzo in range, they
may be seated directly back of the bass section, thus keeping them in the
boys' division ana yet giving them an opportunity of singing with those
who have the same range as themselves.

As will be noted in the plan, the conductor stands
directly in front of the basses, the piano being placed on
either side as may be most convenient, the pianist, of
course, facing the conductor. In directing a large
chorus, it is a great advantage to have two pianos, one
on either side.

* The essentials of this same plan of seating are recommended to adult choruses for
a like reason; viz., in order to enable a smaller number of men's voices to balance a
larger number of sopranos and altos by placing the men in the most prominent position,
instead of seating them back of the women, as is so frequently done.

G«"it de Jong9 J

CHAPTER IX

The Community Chorus Conductor

THE SIGNIFICANCE The recent rise of community

of community music music has evoked no little con.

troversy as to whether art can
be made "free as air" and its satisfactions thrown open
to all, poor as well as rich; or whether it is by its very
nature exclusive and aristocratic and therefore neces-
sarily to be confined largely to the few. We are in-
clined to the former belief, and would therefore express
the opinion that in our efforts to bring beauty into the
lives of all the people, we are engaged in one of the most
significant musico-sociological enterprises ever inaugu-
rated. For this reason we shall discuss at this point
ways and means of securing satisfactory results in one
of the most interesting phases of community music,
viz., the community chorus. The development of the
community chorus (and indeed to a certain extent, the
whole movement to bring music and the other arts into
the lives of the proletariat) is due to a combination of
artistic and sociological impulses; and it undoubtedly
owes its origin and success as much to the interest in
the living and social problems of the middle and lower
classes, which the recently developed science of sociology
has aroused, as it does to purely musical impulses.

Because of the fact that community music is a socio-
logical phenomenon as well as an artistic one, the direc-
tor of a community chorus must possess a combination
of artistic and personal traits not necessarily present in
the case of other musicians. In particular, he must be a
good mixer as well as a good musician; and if one or

86 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

the other of these qualities has to be sacrificed in some
degree in favor of the other, we should be inclined to
insist first of all upon the right sort of personal traits in
the leader of community music. In order to be really
successful in working among the common people, the
leader must be one of them in all sincerity of spirit, and
must be genuinely in sympathy with their point of view.
This fact is especially pertinent in those types of work
in which one deals with large masses of men and women.
The director of community singing must therefore,
first of all, be a good mob leader. But if, having
met the people upon their own level, he can now call
upon his artistic instincts and his musical training,
and by means of a purely esthetic appeal raise his
crowd a degree or two higher in their appreciation of
music as a fine art, eventually perhaps finding it pos-
sible to interest them in a higher type of music than
is represented by the songs sung in this friendly and
informal way, then he has indeed performed his task
with distinction, and may well be elated over the results
of his labors.

THE SOCIAL One of the fundamental reasons for en-
couraging the use of carols at community
COMMUNITY nu ' ■ a- iu*- n

singing Chris cmas tree celebrations, as well as

other similar forms of group singing, is its
beneficial effect upon the attitude of the people toward one
another and toward their social group or their country.
Through singing together in this informal way, each
individual in the crowd is apt to be drawn closer to the
others, to feel more interested in his neighbors; and in the
case of "sings," where the dominating note is patriotism,
to become imbued with a deeper spirit of loyalty to
country. In very many cases, individuals who formerly
would have nothing to do with one another have been
drawn together and have become really friendly, as the
result of sitting together at a community "sing." Refer-

COMMUNITY CHORUS CONDUCTOR 87

ring to the effect of the first "Song and Light Festival"
in New York City, a well-known artist remarked :*

The movement illustrates plainly to me the coming forth of a new conscious-
ness. Outside the park, strikes, sedition, anarchy, hatred, malice, envy;
within, beauty, peace, the sense of brotherhood and harmony. . . . Com-
munity singing is teaching men to find themselves, and to do it in unity and
brotherly love.

This same sort of an effect has been noted by us and
by innumerable others in many other places, and va-
rious testimonies to the beneficial social effect of com-
munity singing, neighborhood bands, school orchestras,
children's concerts, and similar types of musical activity
have come from all parts of the country since the incep-
tion of the movement.

The impulse to bring music into the lives of all the
people is not a fad, but is the result of the working out
of a deep-seated and tremendously significant innate
tendency — the instinct for self-expression; the same in-
stinct which in another form is making us all feel that
democracy is the only sure road to ultimate satisfac-
tion and happiness. It behooves the musician, there-
fore, to study the underlying bases of the community
music movement, and to use this new tool that has been
thus providentially thrown into his hands for the ad-
vancement of art appreciation, rather than to stand aloof
and scoff at certain imperfections and crudities which
inevitably are only too evident in the present phase of
the movement.

QUALITIES OF THE If the social benefit referred to above,
COMMUNITY SONG __viz #> the growth of group feeling

and of neighborly interest in one's
fellows, is to result from our community singing, we
must first of all have leaders who are able to make
people feel cheerful and at ease. The community song

* Kitty Cheatham, Musical America, October 7, 1916.

88 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

leader must be able to raise a hearty laugh occasionally,
and he must by the magnetism of his personality be
able to make men and women who have not raised their
voices in song for years past forget their shyness, forget
to be afraid of the sound of their own voices, forget to
wonder whether anyone is listening, and join heartily
in the singing.

There is no one way of securing this result; in fact,
the same leader often finds it necessary to use different
tactics in dealing with different crowds, or for that
matter, different methods with the same crowd at dif-
ferent times. The crux of the matter is that the leader
must in some way succeed in breaking up the formality,
the stiffness of the occasion; must get the crowd to
loosen up in their attitude toward him, toward one an-
other, and toward singing. This can often be accom-
plished by making a pointed remark or two about the
song, and thus, by concentrating the attention upon the
meaning of the words, make the singers forget them-
selves. Sometimes having various sections of the crowd
sing different stanzas, or different parts of a stanza an-
tiphonally will bring the desired result. By way of
variety, also, the women may be asked to sing the verse
while the entire chorus joins in the refrain; or the men
and women may alternate in singing stanzas; or those
in the back of the balcony may repeat the refrain as an
echo; or the leader and the crowd may sing antiphonally.
In these various ways, considerable rivalry may be
aroused in the various sections of a large chorus, and
the stiffness and unfriendliness will usually be found to
disappear like magic. But if the director is cold and
formal in his attitude, and if one song after another is
sung in the conventional way with no comment, no
anecdote, and no division into sections, the people will
be more than likely to go away criticizing the leader or
the accompanist or the songs or each other, and the
next time the crowd will probably be smaller and the

COMMUNITY CHORUS CONDUCTOR 89

project will eventually die out. The chronic fault-
finder will then say, "I told you it was only a fad and
that it would not last"; but he is Wrong, and the failure
must be attributed to poor management rather than to
any inherent weakness in the idea itself.

VARIETY OF SONG The majority of people have no

MATERIAL MADE opportunity of singing except when

POSSIBLE BY .£ • . J i ? u * J

COMMUNITY SINGING the^ S° to church; but many do

not go to church often, and even
those who go do not always sing, and only have the
opportunity of singing one type of music when they
do take part. Moreover, for various reasons, the sing-
ing of church congregations is not as hearty as it
used to be a generation or two ago. The opportunity
to spend an hour in singing patriotic hymns, senti-
mental songs, and occasionally a really fine composition,
such as the Pilgrims Chorus from Tannhauser, is
therefore eagerly welcomed by a great many men
and women — those belonging to the upper classes as
well as the proletariat. When once the barrier of
formality has been broken down, such gatherings,
especially when directed by a leader who is a good
musician as well as a good mixer, may well become the
means of interesting many thousands of men and women
in the more artistic phases of music; may indeed eventu-
ally transform many a community, not only from a
crowd of individuals into a homogeneous social group,
but may actually change the city or village from a spot
where ugliness has reigned supreme to one where the
dominating note is beauty — beauty of service as well as
beauty of street and garden and public building; and
where drama and music, pictures and literature, are the
most cherished possessions of the people. In a place
which has been so transformed, the "eight hours of
leisure" that have so troubled our sociologists will pre-
sent no problem whatever; for the community chorus,

90 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTINV

the neighborhood orchestra, the music and dramatic
clubs, and the splendid libraries and art galleries will
assume most of the burden of providing a worthy use of
leisure.

the necessity Community "sings" (like everything
OF advertising ejse j-j^ js j.Q achieve success in this

age) must be advertised, and to the
leader usually falls the lot of acting as advertising
manager. It will be well to begin the campaign a
month or more before the first "sing" is to be held,
sending short articles to the local papers, in which is
described the success of similar enterprises in other
places. Then a week or so before the "sing," carefully
worded announcements should be read in churches,
Sunday schools, lodge meetings, and high-school assem-
blies. In connection with this general publicity, the
leader will do well also to talk personally with a large
number of men and women in various walks of life, ask-
ing these people not only to agree to be present them-
selves, but urging them to talk about the project to other
friends and acquaintances, inviting them to come also.
On the day of the first "sing" it may be well to circu-
late attractively printed handbills as a final reminder,
these of course giving in unmistakable language the
time and place of the meeting and perhaps stating in
bold type that admission is entirely free and that no
funds are to be solicited. These various advertising
activities will naturally necessitate the expenditure of
a small amount of money; but it is usually possible to
secure donations or at least reductions of price in the
case of printing, hall rental, et cetera, and the small
amount of actual cash that is needed can usually be
raised among a group of interested people without any
difficulty. It is our belief that the whole project is
more likely to succeed if the leader himself is serving
without remuneration, for he will then be easily able

COMMUNITY CHORUS CONDUCTOR 91

to refute any charge that he is urging the project out
of selfish or mercenary considerations.

PROVIDING THE The leader of community singing must
WORDS OF SONGS noj. make the mistake of supposing

that "everybody knows America,
Swanee River, and Old Black Joe," and that no words
need therefore to be provided. As a matter of fact,
not more than one person in twenty-five can repeat
correctly even one of these songs that "everybody
knows," and we may as well recognize this fact at the
outset and thus prevent a probable fiasco. There are
three ways of placing the songs before our crowd of
people :

1 . Having the words of all songs to be sung printed on sheets of paper and
passing one of these out to each person in the audience.

2. Furnishing a book of songs at a cost of five or ten cents and asking
each person in the audience to purchase this book before the "sing" begins,
bringing it back each succeeding time.

3. Flashing the words (sometimes the music also) on a screen in front of
the assembly. The disadvantage of the last named method is the fact that
the auditorium has to be darkened in order that the words may stand out
clearly; but in out-of-door singing the plan has very great advantages, being
for this purpose perhaps the best of the three.

After the chorus has gotten well on its feet, it will prob-
ably be best to purchase copies of some larger and more
elaborate book, the copies being either owned by indi-
vidual members or else purchased out of treasury funds,
and therefore belonging to the organization. At the
first "sing" it will be a distinct advantage if no financial
outlay whatever is required of the individuals compos-
ing the chorus.

THE advantages OF In conclusion, let us urge the
PLANNING IN ADVANCE feaderof community singing to

decide beforehand just what
songs are to be used, and to study the words of these songs
curefully so as to be able to imbue the chorus with the

92 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

correct spirit of each one, having at his tongue's end the
story of the song and other pointed remarks about it that
will enliven the occasion and keep things from stagnating.
He will, of course, frequently find it necessary to modify
his plan as the "sing" progresses, for one of the most
necessary qualifications in the leader is flexibility and
quick wit. But if he has a definite program in mind and
knows his material so well that he does not need to look
at his book, he will be much more likely to succeed in
holding the interest of his chorus throughout the "sing."
Let him be sure that a skilful accompanist is at hand
to play the piano, perhaps even going to the trouble of
meeting the accompanist beforehand and going through
all material to be used so as to insure a mutual under-
standing upon such matters as tempo, et cetera. In
out-of-door group singing a brass quartet (consisting of
two cornets and two trombones, or two -cornets, a trom-
bone, and a baritone) is more effective than a piano, but
if this is to be done be sure to find players who can trans-
pose, or else write out the parts in the proper transposed
keys. When such an accompaniment is to be used, the
leader should have at least one rehearsal with the quartet
in order that there may be no hitches.

THE meeting If possible, let the ' 'sing ' be held in some
PLACE hall not connected with any particular

group of people, so that all may feel
equally at home (there are decided objections to using
either a church or a lodge room); and, in giving the
invitation for the first meeting, make sure that no
group of people shall have any ground whatsoever for
feeling slighted, even in the smallest degree.

Granting the various factors that we have been recom-
mending, and, most important of all, having provided
the right type of leader to take charge of the "sings,"
the enterprise cannot but have significant results along
both musical and sociological lines.

CHAPTER X

The Orchestral Conductor

DIFFICULTIES Conducting an orchestra from

INVOLVED IN CONDUCTING full score is a vastly more com -
A LARGE orchestra plicated matter than direct-

ing a chorus singing four-part music, and the training
necessary in order to prepare one for this task is long and
complicated. In addition to the points already rehearsed
as necessary for the conductor in general, the leader of
an orchestra must in the first place know at least super-
ficially the method of playing the chief orchestral in-
struments, the advantages and disadvantages involved
in using their various registers, the difficulties of cer-
tain kinds of execution, and other similar matters which
are often referred to by the term instrumentation. In the
second place, he must understand the combinations of
these various instruments that are most effective, and
also what registers in certain instruments blend well with
others; in other words, he must be familiar with the
science of orchestration. In the third place, he must
understand the complicated subject of transposing in-
struments, and must be able to detect a player's mistakes
by reading the transposed part as readily as any other.
And finally, he must be able to perform that most diffi-
cult task of all, viz., to read an orchestral score with
at least a fair degree of ease, knowing at all times what
each performer is supposed to be playing and whether
he is doing the right thing or not. This implies being
able to look at the score as a whole and get a fairly
definite impression of the total effect; but it also in-
volves the ability to take the score to the piano and as-

94 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

sernble the various parts (including the transposed ones)
so that all important tones, harmonic and melodic, **re
brought out. A glance at even a very simple orchestral
score such as that found in Appendix B will probably at
once convince the reader of the complexity of the task,
and will perhaps make him hesitate to "rush in where
angels fear to tread' ' until he has spent a number of
years in preparation for the work.

directing A The above description has reference, of
SMALL course, to conducting an orchestra of ap-

ORCHFSTRA • •

proximately symphonic dimensions, and
does not refer to the comparatively easy task of directing
a group consisting of piano, violins, cornet, trombone,
and perhaps one or two other instruments that happen
to be available.* In organizing an ' 'orchestra' ' of this
type, the two most necessary factors are a fairly profi-
cient reader at the piano (which, of course, not only
supplies the complete harmony, but also covers a mul-
titude of sins both of omission and of commission), and
at least one skilful violinist, who must also be a good
reader. Given these two indispensable elements, other
parts may be added as players become available; and
although the larger the number of wind instruments ad-
mitted, the greater the likelihood of out-of-tune playing,
yet so great is the fascination of tonal variety that our
inclination is always to secure as many kinds of instru-
ments as possible.

The chief value to be derived from ensemble practice
of this type is not, of course, in any public performances
that may be given, but is to be found in the effect upon

* Let us not be misunderstood at this point. We are not sneering at the heterogeneous
collections of instruments that are gathered together under the name of orchestra ia
many of the public schools throughout the country. On the contrary, we regard this
rapidly increasing interest in ensemble playing as one of the most significant tendencies
that has ever appeared in our American musical life, and as a result of it we expect to
see the establishment of many an additional orchestra of symphonic rank, as well as
the fining in of existing organizations with American-born and American-trained players.
There is no reason why wind players should not be trained in this country as well as ia
Europe, if we will only make a consistent attempt to interest our children in the study
of these instruments while they are young, and provide sufficient opportunity for en-
semble practice in connection with our music departments in the public schools.

THE ORCHESTRAL CONDUCTOR 95

the performers themselves, and the principal reason for
encouraging the organization of all sorts of instrumental
groups is in order to offer an opportunity for ensemble
playing to as many amateur performers as possible. For
this reason, unavoidable false intonation must not be
too seriously regarded.

An orchestra such as we have been describing is fre-
quently directed by one of the performers; but it is our
belief that if the group consists of ten or more players it
will be far better to have the conductor stand before
the players and direct them with a baton. The type of
music that is available for amateur ensemble practice
is unfortunately not often accompanied by a full score
for the conductor's use, and he must usually content
himself with studying the various parts as well as he
may before the rehearsal, and then direct from a first vio-
lin part (in which the beginnings of all important parts
played by other instruments are "cued in"). Directing
from an incomplete score is, of course, extremely unsat-
isfactory from the musician's standpoint, but the neces-
sity of doing it has this advantage, viz., that many per-
sons who have charge of small "orchestras" of this type
would be utterly unable to follow a full score, and might
therefore be discouraged from organizing the group at all.

SEATING THE Symphony orchestras are always seated
ORCHESTRA m approximately the same way, and if our
small ensemble group consists of twenty
players or more, it will be well for the conductor to arrange
them in somewhat the same manner as a larger orchestra.
In order to make this clear, the ordinary arrangement of
the various parts of a symphony orchestra is here supplied.
The position of the wood winds and of the lower strings
as well as of the percussion instruments and harp varies
somewhat, this depending upon the composition being
performed, the idiosyncrasies of the conductor, the size
and shape of the platform, et cetera.

96

ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

o o o o o o

Utrstcyfolins
o o o o o o

o
Qonductor

o o o o o

Second cVtbltns
o o o o o

o o

o o

o

o

SEATING PLAN OF A SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

In dealing with a smaller group (not of symphonic
dimensions), it will be well to have the piano in the
middle, the lower strings at the left, the winds at the
right, and the violins in their usual position. The dia-
gram will make this clear. It is to be noted that this
seating plan is only suggestive, and that some other
arrangement may frequently prove more satisfactory.

m

o o
Gornets

o
Jfombone

*0C

S

CO

O

3

>

Siano

o

2>Tass

o

'Gello

o

ZTlute

o

VCorn

\

o o

ciTirstcViolins
o o

o
Wola

W

o
Glarinet

o o

SccondcViblins
o o

o
Gonductot

"

SEATING PLAN SUGGESTED FOR A SMALL ORCHESTRA

THE ORCHESTRAL CONDUCTOR 97

PROPORTION OF Jn a symphony orchestra of about one
INSTRUMENTS hundred players, the proportion of in-
struments is approximately as follows:

1. Strings:

18 first violins
16 second violins
14 violas
12 violoncellos
10 double basses

2. Wood wind:

. . > (Usually only three players)

1 English horn } (UsUaUy 0lJy th™e pkyers)

3 clarinets I /TT „ , ,

1 bass clarinet J (UsUally 0lAy three players)

Q nAQSOOnS

1 double bassoon f (UsUa"V °nly three pUyers)

S. Brass wind:

4 horns (Sometimes 6 or 8)

2 or 3 trumpets (Sometimes 2 cornets also)

3 trombones
1 bass tuba

4. Percussion:

1 bass drum 1 ,_ . N
, > (One player)

1 snare drum J

3 kettledrums (Of different sizes — one player)

1 triangle

1 glockenspiel > (One player)

1 pair cymbals

et cetera

1 harp (Sometimes 2)

It will be noted that out of about one hundred players
almost three-quarters are performers upon stringed in-
struments, and it is this very large proportion of strings
that gives the orchestral tone its characteristic smooth-
ness, its infinite possibilities of dynamic shading, its
almost unbelievable agility, and, of course, its inimi-
table sonority. The wind instruments are useful chiefly

98 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

in supplying variety of color, and also in giving the con-
ductor the possibility of occasionally obtaining enormous
power by means of which to thrill the hearer at climac-
teric points.

Our reason for supplying the above information is
mainly in order to direct attention to the small propor-
tion of wind (and especially of brass) instruments, and
to warn the amateur conductor not to admit too large
a number of cornets and trombones to his organization,
lest the resulting effect be that of a band rather than that
of an orchestra. If there are available a great many
wind instruments and only a few strings, it will probably
be better to admit only a few of the best wind instru-
ment players to the orchestra (about two cornets and
one trombone) and to organize a band in order to give
the rest of the players an opportunity for practice.*
It will probably be necessary for the conductor to warn
his wind players to aim at a more mellow tone than they
use when playing in a band, in order that the brass tone
may blend with the string tone. In the case of the reed
instruments, this will sometimes mean a thinner reed
in orchestra work than is used in bands.

TRANSPOSING In dealing with any ensemble group that
INSTRUMENTS inclU(ies wind instruments, the conductor
must master the intricacies involved in
the subject of transposing instruments, and although this
book is not the place to get such technical knowledge as
was referred to in the introductory paragraph of this
chapter, yet perhaps a brief explanation of the most im-
portant points will not be wholly out of place, since we
are writing more especially from the standpoint of the
amateur.

* In making plans for the organization of a group of wind^ instrument players into a
band, it should be noted by the conductor that here the entire harmony must be sup-
plied by the individual instruments (no piano being used) thus making it necessary to
have alto, tenor, and baritone saxhorns in addition to cornets, clarinets, flutes, and trom-
bones. The tuba is also almost indispensable, while the inclusion of two or three ( saxo-
phones will greatly increase the mellowness of the effect as well as providing an additional
color to make the tonal textures more interesting.

THE ORCHESTRAL CONDUCTOR 99

By a transposing instrument we mean one in the case
of which the performer either plays from a part that is
written in a different key from that of the composition,
or that sounds pitches an octave higher or lower than the
notes indicate. Thus, e.g., in a composition written in the
key of E-flat, and actually played in that key by the
strings, piano, et cetera, the clarinet part would probably
be written in the key of F, i.e., it would be transposed a
whole step upward; but, of course, the actual tones
would be in the key of E-flat. The player, in this case,
would perform upon a B-flat clarinet — i.e., a clarinet
sounding pitches a whole step lower than indicated by
the notes. (It is called a B-flat clarinet because its
fundamental gives us the pitch B-flat — this pitch being
a whole-step lower than C; and it is because the pitch
sounded is a whole step lower that the music has to be
transposed a whole step higher in order to bring it into
the correct key when played.) In the case of the clar-
inet in A, the pitches produced by the instrument are
actually a minor third lower than the notes indicate (A
is a minor third lower than C, just as B-flat is a whole-
step lower). In writing music for clarinet in A, there-
fore, the music will need to be transposed upward a
minor third in order that when played it may be in the
right key; just as in the case of the clarinet in B-flat, it
has to be transposed upward a whole- step.

"Clarinet or cornet in B-flat' ' means, therefore, an
instrument that sounds pitches a whole-step lower than
written; "clarinet or cornet in A" means one that
sounds pitches a minor third lower than written; "horn
in F" means an instrument sounding pitches a perfect
fifth lower than written (because F is a perfect fifth
below C); while the "clarinet in E-flat" sounds pitches
a minor third higher than written. Whether the pitches
sounded are higher or lower than the notes indicate will
have to be learned by experience or study.

If the passage marked Fig. 1 were to be orchestrated

100

ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

so as to give the highest voice to the clarinet and the
lowest to the horn, the clarinet and horn parts would
appear as shown in Fig. 2.

Pig i

I

ta#^§

IUJ12

*i.*r rrr—

^

Fig 2

Clarinet m Bl>

Horns in F

^f

-«*-

In order to make this information more specific, we
add a table showing the keys of the original and trans-
posed parts. The practical band man expresses the
substance of this table tersely by saying, "subtract 3
sharps or 2 flats."

Original Key

Transposed Key

Kind of Instrument

C

D

B-flat

G

B-flat

A

D

F

A

A

C

A

E

G

A

B

D

A

F-sharp

A

A

C-sharp

E

A

F

G

B-flat

B-flat

C

B-flat

E-flat

F

B-flat

A-flat

B-flat

B-flat

D-flat

E-flat

B-flat

G-flat

A-flat

B-flat

<

or
A

<

or
A

C-flat

D-flat

B-flat

REASONS FOR
TRANSPOSING
INSTRUMENTS

The principal reasons for the use of trans-
posing instruments are: first, because cer-
tain sizes of instruments produce a better
quality of tone than others (e.g., the B-flat clarinet
sounds better than the C clarinet) ; and second, because

THE ORCHESTRAL CONDUCTOR 101

it is easier to play in keys having a smaller number of
sharps and flats, and by transposing the parts to other
keys, we can usually get rid of several sharps or flats.

In the case of performers on the clarinet, each player
is necessarily provided with two instruments (an A and
a B-flat — the C clarinet being almost obsolete, and the
E-flat being used only in military bands) ; but in playing
upon the brass wind instruments the same instrument
may be tuned in various keys, either by means of a tun-
ing slide or by inserting separate shanks or crooks, these
latter being merely additional lengths of tubing by the
insertion of which the total length of the tube constitut-
ing the instrument may be increased, thus throwing its
fundamental pitch into a lower key.

In order to gain facility in dealing with transposed
parts, the amateur is advised to try his hand at-arranging
simple music (hymn tunes, folk songs, easy piano pieces,
et cetera) for his group of players, transposing the parts
for clarinets* cornets, e£ cetera, into the appropriate keys.
In this way he will also get an insight into the mysteries
of instrumental combination that cannot be secured in
any other way.

PITCH The first difficulty that the conductor of

STANDARDS an amateur ensemble group usually en-
counters is that the instruments owned by
his players are tuned according to various pitch stand-
ards; and he is very likely to find at his first rehearsal
that his first-clarinet player has an instrument tuned in
"high pitch," i.e., what is commonly known as concert
pitch (about one half step above standard), while his
second-clarinet player has an instrument in "low pitch,"
i.e., international, a' having 435 vibrations per second.
(There is also a third pitch which is used by many of the
standard symphony orchestras — this pitch being based
upon a vibration rate of 440 for a'). If the conductor
attempts to have his orchestra perform under these con-

102 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

ditions, disaster will surely overtake him, and he will not
only find his ears suffering tortures, but will be more
than likely to hear uncomplimentary remarks from the
neighbors, and will be fortunate indeed not to be ordered
on to the next block or the next town by the police force !
The difficulty arises, of course, because the oboe, English
horn, clarinet, and other wood-wind instruments are
built in a certain fixed pitch, and since the length of the
tube cannot be altered, they must either play in the
pitch intended or else not at all. In the case of the
clarinet and flute, the pitch can be altered a very little
by pulling out one of the joints slightly (the tube is made
in several sections) thus making the total length slightly
greater and the pitch correspondingly lower; but when
this is done the higher tones are very apt to be out of
tune, and in general, if the player has an instrument
tuned in high pitch, he cannot play with an ensemble
group having low-pitched instruments, especially when
the piano supplies the fundamental harmony. In the
case of the brass instruments, a tuning slide is usually
provided, and the same instrument can therefore be
utilized in either low or high pitch combinations.*

TUNING The conductor of an amateur ensemble
group will find it very greatly to his advan-
tage to be able to tune the various instruments, or at
least to help the players to do it accurately. This in-
volves not merely a mechanical knowledge of what to
do to the instrument to change its pitch, but, what is
much more important, a very high degree of pitch dis-
crimination on the conductor's part. It is at this latter
point that assistance is most often necessary, and the
conductor who can tell his cornet player when he is just

* "High pitch" is employed mostly in bands; the reason for its use being that the
wind instruments are much more brilliant when tuned to the higher pitch. It is encourag-
ing to be able to state, however, that more and more instruments are being built in
"philharmonic pitch" (a' 440), and the conductor who is organizing a band or orchestra
is advised to see to it that all players who are purchasing new instruments insist upon
having them built in this pitch.

THE ORCHESTRAL CONDUCTOR 103

a shade high or low, and can determine precisely when the
violinist has his strings tuned to an absolutely perfect
fifth, will have far less trouble with out-of-tune playing
than otherwise; for a great deal of sharping and flatting
(particularly in the case of wind instruments) is the re-
sult of inaccurate tuning.

BOWING Since an orchestra contains such a large propor-
tion of stringed instruments it will be very
greatly to the interest of the conductor to take up the study
of some instrument belonging to the violin family, and to
learn to play it at least a little. If this is altogether im-
practicable at the beginning, the next best thing for him
to do is to study bowing, learning not only the bowing
signs and their meaning, but familiarizing himself thor-
oughly with the principles underlying the art. For this
purpose some good work on bowing should be studied,
but meanwhile a few words on the subject at this point
will give the absolute beginner at least a small amount of
indispensable information. The signs commonly em-
ployed in music for violin, viola, violoncello, and double-
bass, to indicate various manners of bowing, are as
follows :

V Down-bow: i.e., from nut to point.

" Up-bow: i.e., from point to nut.

-" "**• Slurred: i.e., all notes under the sign played in one bow.

t". . . . IT^ Staccato: i.e., all notes in one bow, but the tones separated.

The ordinary staccato mark ( * or f ) means a long quick
stroke, either up or down as the case may be. The ab-
sence of slurs indicates a separate stroke of the bow for
each tone. Sometimes the player is directed to use the
lower half, the upper half, or the middle of the bow, such
directions being given by printing the words "lower
half," et cetera, above the passage, or by giving the ini-
tials of these words (sometimes in German). When no
bowing is indicated, a phrase beginning with a weak
beat commonly has an up-bow for the first tone, while

104 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

one beginning on a strong beat has a down-bow; but this
principle has many exceptions. It is perhaps needless to
state that correct phrasing in the case of the stringed in-
struments depends upon the employment of suitable bow-
ing ; and since the first violin part is most prominent and
most important in orchestral music, it becomes the busi-
ness of the conductor to observe most carefully the bow-
ing of his concert-master and to confer with him about
possible changes in bowing wherever necessary. It will
save a great deal of confusion if players understand that
the bowing is to be exactly as indicated in the score, unless
a change is definitely made. The first player in each
group in point of position on the platform is called the
"principal/ ' and is supposed to be the most skilful per-
former in that section; and he is responsible, in confer-
ence with the conductor when necessary, for selecting the
best bowing, et cetera, all others in the group watching
him, and all phrasing as he does. In actual practice, this
means that the players at the second desk bow like those
at the first, those at the third desk follow those at
the second, et cetera. Absolute uniformity is thus se-
cured in each section. It should perhaps be remarked
at this point that when different groups are playing the
same phrase, e.g., violoncellos and basses, or second vio-
lins and violas, the bowing must be uniform in the two
sections, if absolute uniformity of phrasing is to result.

In addition to the bowing signs explained on page 103,
the conductor should also be familiar with certain other
directions commonly found in music for stringed instru-
ments. Some of the most important of these, together
with their explanations, are therefore added.

Pizzicato {fizz.) (pluck the string instead of bowing)

Col arco (or arco) (play with the bow again)

Con sordino, or \ , . t .

A ,. ( (affix the mute to the bridge)

Avec sourdine J

Senza sordino, or 1

0 . . ( (remove the mute)

Sans sourdine

THE ORCHESTRAL CONDUCTOR 105

Divisi (ch'v.) (divide, i.e., let some of the players take one of the two
tones indicated and the remainder of them the other one. This
direction is of course used only in case two or more notes appear
on the staff for simultaneous performance. It is customary to
divide such passages by having the players seated on the side
next the audience take the higher tone, while the others take the
lower. If the section is to be divided into more than two parts,
the conductor must designate who is to play the various tones.)

SCORE Reading an orchestral score is a matter for
READING ^ne professional rather than for the amateur:
and yet the great increase during recent years in the
number of amateur orchestras probably means that
more and more of these groups will continue their prac-
tice until they are able to play a more difficult class of
music — this involving the necessity on the part of their
conductors of learning to read an orchestral score. For
this reason a few suggestions upon score reading are
added as a final paragraph in this chapter, and an ex-
ample of a score is supplied at the end of the book — ■
Appendix B (p. 166.)

The main difficulties involved in reading a full score
are: first, training the eye to read from a number of
staffs simultaneously and assembling the tones (in the
mind or at the keyboard) into chords; and second, trans-
posing into the actual key of the composition those parts
which have been written in other keys and including
these as a part of the harmonic structure. This latter
difficulty may be at least partially overcome by practice
in arranging material for orchestra as recommended on
page 101; but for the first part of the task, extensive
practice in reading voices on several staffs is necessary.
The student who is ambitious to become an orchestral
conductor is therefore advised, in the first place, not
to neglect his Bach during the period when he is study-
ing the piano, but to work assiduously at the two- and
three-part inventions and at the fugues. He may then
purchase miniature scores of some of the string quartets

106 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, training himself to
read all four parts simultaneously, sometimes merely
trying to hear mentally the successive harmonies as he
looks at the score, but most often playing the parts on
the piano. After mastering four voices in this way, he is
ready to begin on one of the slow movements of a Haydn
symphony.

In examining an orchestral score, it will be noted at
once that the string parts are always together at the
bottom of the page, while the wood-wind material is at
the top. Since the strings furnish the most important
parts of the harmonic structure for so much of the time,
our amateur will at first play only the string parts, with
the possible addition of the flute, 'oboe, and certain other
non-transposed voices a little later on. But as he gains
facility he will gradually be able to take in all the parts
and to include at least a sort of summary of them all in
his playing. The student is advised to purchase a number
of the Haydn and Mozart symphonies either in the form
of pocket editions or in the regular conductor's score,
and to practise on these until he feels quite sure of him-
self. By this time he will be ready to try his hand at a
modern score, which will be found not only to contain
parts for more instruments, but many more divided parts
for the strings. Meanwhile, he is, of course, taking every
possible opportunity of attending concerts given by sym-
phony orchestras, and is begging, borrowing, or buying
the scores of as many of the compositions as possible,
studying them in advance, and taking keen delight in
following them at the performance; perhaps even imag-
ining himself to be the conductor, and having visions of
changes in interpretation that he would like to make if
he were directing. As the result of several years of this
sort of study, even an amateur may get to the point
where he is able to conduct an orchestra from a full
score with some degree of skill, and hence with some little
satisfaction both to himself and to the performers.

THE ORCHESTRAL CONDUCTOR

107

TABLE SHOWING RANGES OF ORCHESTRAL INSTRUMENTS

Range of Wood Wind
Section

Range of Brass Wind
Section

Range of String
Section

& \

Range of Entira
Orchestra

*■■

Af>/ei The arrangement of instruments here ind>
-cated is essentially that found in a modern orchV
estral score. The ranges given represent practical
orchestral usage. Additional tones possible for
highly skilled performers or on instruments with
certain special keys (like the low * of the flutej!
are shown in brackets.

CHAPTER XI

Directing the Church Choir

THE In taking up the special problems of con-

PROBLEM ducting involved in directing a church choir,
we shall first of all need to consider the dual
nature of church music — its religio-artistic aspect, and
in studying the matter from this standpoint we shall
soon discover that most of the difficulties that have en-
compassed church music in the past can be traced di-
rectly or indirectly to a conflict or a lack of balance be-
tween these two factors. The churchman has not
been sufficiently interested in the art side of church
music, while the music director, organist, and singers
have all too frequently been not only entirely out of sym-
pathy with the religious work of the church, but have
usually been wholly ignorant concerning the purpose
and possibilities of music in the church service. The
result in most churches at the present time is either that
the music is vapid or even offensive from the art stand-
point; or else that it emphasizes the purely artistic side
so strongly that it entirely fails to perform its function
as an integral part of a service whose raison d'etre is,
of course, to inculcate religious feeling. "The church
wishes for worship in music, but not for the worship of
music/ ' is said to have been the statement of Father
Haberl at the Saint Cecilia Conference in Mainz
(1884).* And it is indeed a far cry from this demand to
the very evident deification of music that exists in many
of our modern xnty churches, with their expensive soloists
and their utter failure to cause music to minister as "the

* Quoted by Curwen on the title page of Studies in Worship Music (second series).

DIRECTING THE CHURCH CHOIR 109

handmaid of religion/ ' The problem is not a new one,
and in a book written about a century ago the author
says:*

The guiding rule which ought always to be present to the mind of a clergy-
man should also be held in mind by all good musicians who would help the
church's object, and not employ the sacred building merely as a place where
all kind of sounds that tickle the ear can be heard. All kinds of music are
suitable for sacred use that do not raise secular associations. A Largo, an
Adagio, a Grave, an Andante, an Allegro, a fugal or a non-fugal composition
can all be performed in the Church but should one and all be of a staid and
dignified character throughout, elevated and sober, and of such a nature that
any preacher of note could say : '* This splendid music is a fitting introduction
to my discourse"; or "After such singing my lips had better be closed, and
the spirit left to its own silent worship."

A distinguished modern writer voices the same thought
in the following words:*

The singing of the choir must be contrived and felt as part of the office of
prayer. The spirit and direction of the whole service for the day must be
unified; the music must be a vital and organic element in this unit.

But in most churches music does not function in this
ideal way and in many cases (especially in non-liturgical
churches) there is no unity whatever in the service, and
the music is evidently both performed and listened to
from a purely art standpoint; or else it is so crude and
inartistic as to be actually painful to the worshiper with
refined sensibilities.

THE What is to be the remedy for this state of

remedy affairs? Or is there no remedy, and must we
go on, either enduring tortures artistically, or suffering
spiritually? We are not omniscient, but we venture to
assert that conditions might be caused to improve by the
adoption of several changes of procedure that are herewith
recommended.

1. Educate the minister musically during his general and professional
training, causing him not only to acquire a certain amount of technical musical
ability, but attempting also to cultivate in him that intangible something

* Thibaut, Purity in Music, translated by Broadhouse, p. 24.

* Dickinson, Music in the History of the Western. Church, p. 401.

110 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

which we call musical taste. A few seminaries — notably the Hartford Theo-
logical Seminary and the Boston University Department of Religious Educa-
tion— are doing pioneer work along this line, but they are the exception rather
than the rule, and the thing must be done by all if the desired result is to obtain
in the future.

2. Encourage the organization of chorus choirs composed largely of
those who belong to or attend the church and are therefore vitally interested
in its work.

3. Select more churchly music, i.e., a type of music which when appro-
priately rendered will tend to bring about a mood of worship. This will often
mean a simpler style of music; it may mean more a cappella singing; and it un-
doubtedly implies music that is fundamentally sincere. That many of our
modern sacred solos and anthems fail in this latter respect must be evident to
any one who has given the matter any thought whatever.

4. Let the church make an attempt to secure as its musical director one
who possesses a type of seriousness and high-mindedness that will make him
sympathetic with what the church is trying to do, thus enabling him to minis-
ter to the people through music even as the priest or preacher does through
words of consolation or inspiration. We admit that this sort of a man (who
is at the same time unimpeachable in his musical authority) is often hard to
find; but that the two elements are incompatible, and that such a type of
choir director cannot be trained, we absolutely refuse to believe. If the
church sufficiently recognizes the failure of music as now frequently admin-
istered, and makes a strong enough demand for leaders of a different type,
they are bound to be forthcoming.

CORRELATING THE Having trained our minister from

MUSIC WITH THE a musical standpoint, organized

REST OF THE SERVICE a chorus choir> selected appro.

priate music, and secured the right type of choir leader,
let us now make a strenuous attempt to correlate the
musical with the non-musical parts of the service; and
if we succeed in our effort at this point also, our task
will be at least in sight of completion. This desirable
correlation will only result if both minister and musician
are willing to work together amicably, each recognizing
the rights of the other, and both willing to give in upon
occasion in order to make the service as a whole work
out more smoothly. Many humorous stories are told,
the point of which is based upon the absolute incongruity
of the various parts of the church service. The writer

DIRECTING THE CHURCH CHOIR 111

remembers most vividly an incident that occurred during
the first year of the Great War, in the church in which he
was at that time the choirmaster. The choir had just
finished singing an anthem written by an English com-
poser as a prayer for peace,* the concluding strains being
sung to the words "Give peace, O God, give peace
again! Amen." As the choir sat down, after an effec-
tive rendition of the anthem, there was a hush in the
congregation, showing that the message of the music had
gone home to the hearers. But a moment later the spell
was rudely broken, as the minister rose, and in a stento-
rian voice proclaimed the text of the day — "For I come
not to bring peace into the world, but a sword."

The responsibility in this case rested as much upon
the shoulders of the choir director as upon those of the
preacher, for he should at least have taken the trouble
to acquaint his coworker with the nature of the anthem,
so that some reference might have been made to the
subject in either the prayer or scripture reading or in
some of the hymns, if not in the sermon itself. It
is perhaps not always feasible to have sermon .and anthem
agree absolutely in subject, but it is entirely possible to
avoid such occurrences as that cited above, if even a
small amount of thought is given to the matter of cor-
relation each week. Surely the choir leader could at
least provide the minister with the titles of the anthems
and solos to be rendered.

DIFFICULTIES In advocating a return to the volun-

INVOLVED IN THE teer cn0rus choir instead of the sala-

CHORUS CHOIR • j 1 + 4. 11

ned solo quartet, we are well aware

of the disadvantages that are likely to accompany any

attempt along this line. We know +hat the chorus choir

composed of volunteers is often poorly balanced, usually

contains for the most part indifferent voices and often

unskilful readers, and frequently consists largely of

* John E. West, O God of Love, 0 King of Peace.

ft

112 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

giddy young girls, whose main object in singing in the
choir is obviously not based upon their interest in the
spiritual advancement of the community! But we be-
lieve that under the right type of leadership most of
these bad conditions will in time disappear, and that,
through the chorus choir, music may well become a
vitalizing force in the life of many a church in which a
revitalizing process is badly needed.

In order to make ourselves perfectly clear, let us sum-
marize at this point the qualifications especially needed
by the conductor of a volunteer church chorus.

1. He must be a reasonably good musician, possessing not only familiarity
with music in general, but in particular an intimate knowledge of vocal music,
and knowing at least the fundamentals of voice training.

2. He must understand the purpose of church music, and must be in
sympathy with the> religious work of the church.

3. He must be young in spirit, and thus be able to take a sympathetic
attitude toward the members of his choir as human beings, and particularly
as human beings who are still young, inexperienced, and frequently thought-
less. This implies, of course, a certain amount of personal magnetism and this
is as necessary in the volunteer choir for holding the membership together and
securing regular attendance as it is for inspiring them musically.

THE DANGER OF One of the chief difficulties encountered
INDIVIDUALISM |n more or less all choral organizations,

and especially in the volunteer church
choir, is the tendency on the part of many members to
do all they possibly can in the way of dress, actions, loud
singing, and lack of voice blending, to call attention to
themselves as individuals. This not only results in
frequent offense to the eye of the worshiper because of
clashing color combinations (the remedy for which is,
of course, some uniform method of dressing or perhaps a
vestment), but what is even more serious, it often causes
a lack of voice blending that seriously interferes with both
the religious and the artistic effect of the music. For
this latter state of affairs there is no remedy except to
learn to listen to individual voices, and when some voice

DIRECTING THE CHURCH CHOIR 113

does not blend with the rest, to let the person who owns
it know that he must either sing very softly or else stop
entirely. This can often be accomplished by a look in the
direction of the singer who is causing the trouble; but
if this does not suffice, then a private admonition may be
necessary — and here we have a situation in which the
diplomacy and the good humor of the conductor must be
exercised to the utmost, especially if the offending voice
belongs to a prominent member of, and perhaps a liberal
contributor to, the church. In such a case, one may
sometimes, without unduly compromising one's reputa-
tion for veracity, inform the offending member that his
method of singing is very bad indeed for his voice, and if
persisted in will surely ruin that organ !

Needless to say, the conductor must exercise the ut-
most tactfulness in dealing with such matters as these,
but it is our belief that if he insists strongly enough in the
rehearsal upon a unified body of tone from each part,
and backs this up by private conversations with individ-
ual members, with perhaps a free lesson or two in correct
voice placement, or even the elimination of one or two
utterly hopeless voices, a fine quality of voice blending
will eventually result. It might be remarked at this
point that such desirable homogeneity of tone will only
eventuate if each individual member of the choir becomes
willing to submerge his own voice in the total effect of
his part; and that learning to give way in this fashion for
the sake of the larger good of the entire group is one of the
most valuable social lessons to be learned by the young
men and women of today. It is the business of the
choir leader to drive home this lesson whenever neces-
sary. It is also his task to see to it that no member of his
choir by his actions causes any interference with the
worship of the congregation. In plain speech, it is his
duty to see to it that choir members conduct themselves
in a manner appropriate to their position, and that they
do not by whispering, laughing, note writing, and other

114 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

similar frivolities, hinder in any way the develop-
ment of a spirit of reverent devotion on the part of the
congregation.

SOLO SINGING Another type of undesirable individu-

IN THE CHURCH alism js to be found in the case of the

church solo singer. We have no quar-
rel with the sacred solo when sung in such a way as to
move the hearts of the congregation to a more sincere
attitude of devotion; and we are entirely willing to
grant that the sacred solo has the inherent possibility of
becoming as pregnant with religious fervor as the sermon
itself, and may indeed, because of its esthetic and emo-
tional appeal, convey a message of comfort or of inspira-
tion to many a heart that might remain untouched by
the appeal of a merely intellectual sermon. But it has
been our observation that the usual church solo very sel-
dom functions in this way; that the singer usually con-
siders it only as an opportunity to show how well he can
perform; that he seldom thinks very much about the
words; that the selections are usually not chosen be-
cause they are appropriate to the remainder of the ser-
vice but because they are "effective" or perhaps because
they are well adapted to the voice or the style of the
singer; and that our congregations have grown so ac-
customed to this sort of thing that the performance of a
sacred solo is now usually listened to, commented upon,
and criticized in exactly the same way in the church
service as would be the case at a concert performance.

Instead of thinking, "I am delivering a message,*9
the singer is only too palpably saying to us, "J am sing-
ing a solo, don't you think I am doing it well?"

The remedy for this condition of affairs is the same as
that which we have been recommending for church
music in general, and before church solo singing can be
commended in very glowing terms as a method of assist-

DIRECTING THE CHURCH CHOIR 115

ing the congregation to become more thoughtful, more
fervent in their devotional attitude, we must have:

1. More appropriate selections.

ii. A more sincerely reverent and a more thoroughly non-egoistic attitude
on the part of the soloists.

Because these things are so difficult of attainment under
present conditions our feeling is that, all in all, chorus
music is probably considerably more effective as a ve-
hicle for making a religio-esthetic appeal, than solo
singing.

PROGRESS IN The public schools are doing very

PUBLIC SCHOOL much more in the way of teaching

MUSIC AS RELATED • .1 , 1 j •

TO CHURCH CHOIRS mUS1C thaH f O™1^ ™* * many

places consistent work is being

carried on as the result of which the children now in
school are learning to read music notation somewhat
fluently, to use their voices correctly, and are culti-
vating as well a certain amount of taste in music.
Because of this musical activity in the public schools,
our task of organizing and directing volunteer church
choirs should be very much simplified in the near
future. Community singing will help, at this point
also, and the very much larger number of boys and
girls who are receiving training as the result of the devel-
opment of high school music, ought to make it consider-
ably easier to secure the right type of choir director in
the future than has been the case in the past. As a
result of the present widespread interest in music and
music study, it should be possible also to get very much
better congregational singing, and withal to interest the
congregation (and the preacher!) in a better type of
music. All in all, the outlook is extremely promising
and we venture to predict a great improvement in all
that pertains to church music during the next quarter
century.

116 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

IMPORTANCE OF Let us close this discussion by urg-
CONGREGATIONAL mg foe choir director to remember

that the most important music, at
least in the Protestant church, is the congregational
singing; and to consider the fact that if music is to help
people worship without becoming a substitute for wor-
ship, it will be necessary for him not only to inspire his
choir with high ideals of church music, but also to devise
means of inducing the congregation to take part in
the singing to a much greater extent than is now the
case in most churches. It is usually true that the finer
the choir, and the more elaborate the accompaniment,
the less hearty is the congregational singing. If there
is to be steady growth in the efficiency of chorus choirs,
therefore, it will not be surprising if congregational sing-
ing sometimes falls off in volume and enthusiasm.
The reasons for such a decline are: First, because the
people take no responsibility for the singing, knowing
that it will go well whether they join in or not; second,
because the choir often sings so well that the people
would rather listen than take part; third, because the
director frequently stands with his back to the con-
gregation and apparently does not expect much singing
from them; and fourth, because the choir leader often
insists upon a highly musical interpretation of the
hymns, this involving the carrying over of phrases, et
cetera. These latter things may well be done after a
long period of training, but in the early stages the way
to arouse interest in congregational singing is not to
insist too strongly upon the purely artistic aspects, but
to remember that most of the congregation are musically
untrained and not only do not see the point to all these
refinements, but will frequently become discouraged and
stop singing entirely if too many of them are insisted
upon. It will be well also to apply to this type of group
singing the principles already discussed in connection
with community "sings," having the congregation sing

DIRECTING THE CHURCH CHOIR 117

alone part of the time, having a stanza sung as a solo
occasionally, making use of antiphonal effects, and in
other ways introducing variety and placing more respon-
sibility upon the congregation; and, most important of
all, calling attention more frequently to the words of
the hymns, either the preacher or the choir leader some-
times giving the stories of their origin, and in other ways
attempting to interest the congregation in the meaning
of the hymn as a poem. Perhaps a more careful selec-
tion of the hymns would help also, especially if a con-
sistent attempt were to be made to give the congre-
gation an opportunity of practising the more musical
tunes, so that they would come to feel familiar with
them and at ease in singing them. If the choir direc-
tor will take the trouble to go through the hymn book
and select forty or fifty really fine hymns and tunes
that are not being used, suggesting to the minister that
these be sung sometimes in connection with the more
familiar ones, he will very often find the minister more
than willing to meet him half way in the matter. In
these various ways the choir leader and the minister
may by consistent cooperation inspire the congregation
to the point where the vocal response is as hearty and
as heartfelt as it used to be in the olden days.

CHAPTER XII

The Boy Choir and Its Problems

the problems The two special problems connected
with directing a boy choir are :

1. Becoming intimately acquainted with the compass, registers, possibil-
ities, and limitations of the boy's voice.

2. Finding out how to manage the boys themselves so as to keep them
good-natured, well-behaved, interested, and hard at work.

To these two might be added a third — namely, the prob-
lem of becoming familiar with the liturgy of the particu-
lar church in which the choir sings, since male choirs are
to be found most often in liturgical churches. But since
this will vary widely in the case of different sects, we
shall not concern ourselves with it, but will be content
with giving a brief discussion of each of the other points.

peculiarities OF The child voice is not merely a
THE child VOICE miniature adult voice, but is an

instrument of quite different char-
acter. In the first place, it is not nearly so individual-
istic in timbre as the adult voice, and because of the far
greater homogeneity of voice quality that obtains in
children's singing, it is much easier to secure blending of
tone, the effect being that of one voice rather than of
a number of voices in combination. This is a disad-
vantage from the standpoint of variety of color in pro-
ducing certain emotional effects, but it is in some ways an
advantage in the church service, especially in churches
where the ideal is to make the entire procedure as im-
personal and formal as possible. In the second place, the
child voice is good only in the upper register — the chest

THE BOY CHOIR AND ITS PROBLEMS 119

tones being throaty, unpleasant, and frequently off
pitch. In the third place, the child voice is immature, and
his vocal organs are much more likely to be injured by
overstraining. When directed by a competent voice
trainer, however, the effect of a large group of children
singing together is most striking, and their pure, fresh,
flutelike tones, combined with the appearance of purity
and innocence which they present to the eye, bring many
a thrill to the heart and not infrequently a tear to the
eye of the worshiper.

THE BOY voice IN In many European churches, and
THE CHURCH CHOIR m a considerable number in the

United States, it is customary to
have boys with unchanged voices sing the soprano part,
men with trained falsetto voices (called male altos) tak-
ing the alto,* while the tenor and bass parts are, of
course, sung by men as always. Since the child voice
is only useful when the tones are produced with relaxed
muscles, and since the resonance cavities have not devel-
oped sufficiently to give the voice a great deal of power,
it is possible for a few men on each of the lower parts to
sing with from twenty to thirty boys on the soprano
part. Six basses, four tenors, and four altos will easily
balance twenty-five boy sopranos, if all voices are of
average power.

THE NECESSITY There is one difference between the
OF BEING A mixed choir of adult voices and the

boy choir that should be noted at the
outset by the amateur. It is that, in the former, the

* In many male choirs the alto part is sung by boys; but this does not result in a fine
blending of parts, because of the fact, as already noted in the above paragraph, that the
boy's voice is good only in its upper register. It may be of interest to the reader to
know that in places where there are no adult male altos, these voices may be trained with
comparative ease. All that is needed is a baritone or bass who has no particular ambi-
tions in the direction of solo singing (the extensive use of the falsetto voice is detrimental
to the lower tones) ; who is a good reader; and who is willing to vocalize in his falsetto
voice a half hour a day for a few months. The chief obstacle that is likely to be en-
countered in training male altos is the fact that the men are apt to regard falsetto sing-
ing as effeminate.

120 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

choir leader is working with mature men and women,
most of whom have probably learned to use their voices as
well as they ever will; but in directing a boy choir, the so-
pranos must be taught not only the actual music to be
sung at the church service, but, what is much more diffi-
cult, they must be trained in the essentials of correct
breathing, tone placement, et cetera, from the ground up.
Hence the absolute necessity of the choirmaster being a
voice specialist. He need not have a fine solo voice, but
he must know the essentials of good singing, and must be
able to demonstrate with his own voice what he means
by purity of vowel, clearness of enunciation, et cetera.
These things are probably always best taught by imita-
tion, even in the case of adults; but when dealing with a
crowd of lively American boys, imitation is practically
the only method that can be used successfully. We shall
not attempt to give information regarding this highly
important matter in the present volume, because it is
far too complex and difficult to be taken up in anything
short of a treatise and because, moreover, the art of
singing cannot be taught in a book. The student who is
ambitious to become the director of a boy choir is ad-
vised, first, to study singing for a period of years, and
second, to read several good books upon the training of
children's voices. There are a number of books of this
character, some of the best ones being included in the
reference list in Appendix A (p. 164).

THE DIFFERENCE The child's larynx grows steadily

BETWEEN THE VOICES to the age of about six but

OF BOYS AND GIRLS f .,. .- -u « A

at this time growth ceases, and

until puberty the vocal cords, larynx, and throat muscles
develop in strength and flexibility, without increasing
appreciably in size. This means that from six until
the beginning of adolescence the voice maintains approxi-
mately the same range, and that this is the time to
train it as a child voice.

THE BOY CHOIR AND ITS PROBLEMS 121

The question now arises, why not use the girl's voice
in choirs as well as the boy's? — and the answer is three-
fold. In the first place, certain churches have always
clung to the idea of the male choir, women being refused
any participation in what originally was strictly a
priestly office; in the second place, the girl arrives at
the age of puberty somewhat earlier than the boy, and
since her voice begins to change proportionately sooner,
it is not serviceable for so long a period, and is therefore
scarcely worth training as a child voice because of the
short time during which it can be used in this capacity;
and in the third place, the boy's voice is noticeably more
brilliant between the ages of seven or eight and thirteen
or fourteen, and is therefore actually more useful from
the standpoint of both power and timbre. If it were
not for such considerations as these, the choir of girls
would doubtless be more common than the choir of
boys, for girls are much more likely to be tractable at
this age, and are in many ways far easier to deal with
than boys.

At the age of six, the voices of boys and girls are
essentially alike in timbre; but as the boy indulges in
more vigorous play and work, and his muscles grow
firmer and his whole body sturdier, the voice-producing
mechanism too takes on these characteristics, and a
group of thirty boys ten or twelve years old will actually
produce tones that are considerably more brilliant than
those made by a group of thirty girls of similar age.

THE COMPASS OF To the novice in handling children's
THE CHILD VOICE voices? the statement that the typical

voice of boys and girls about ten
years of age easily reaches a" and frequently b" ore'"

fl a, ^ will at first seem unbelievable. This

3E 1 is nevertheless the case, and the first

*J thing to be learned by the trainer of

122 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

a boy choir is therefore to keep the boys singing high,

beginning with the higher tones _* .

and vocalizing downward, instead ^

i

r» o

of vice versa. The main reason for
the necessity of this downward vocalization is what is
known as the movable break. In an adult voice, the
change from a low register to a higher one always takes
place at approximately the same place in the scale; but
the child's voice is immature, his vocal organs have not
formed definitely established habits, and the chest
register is often pushed upward to c", d", or even e"
This is practically always done in sing-
ing an ascending scale loudly, and the
result is not only distressing to the
listener, but ruinous to the voice. In former days this
type of singing was common in our public schools, the
result being that most boys honestly thought it im-
possible to sing higher than c" or d" *

this being the limit beyond which it was & *> |gj
difficult to push the chest voice. The head "•J"
voice was thus not used at all, and the singing of public
school children in the past has in most cases been any-
thing but satisfactory from the standpoint of tonal
beauty. But most supervisors of music have now be-
come somewhat familiar with the child voice, and are
insisting upon high-pitched songs, soft singing, and
downward vocalization, these being the three indis-
pensable factors in the proper training of children's
voices. The result is that in many places school children
are at the present time singing very well indeed, and
the present growing tendency to encourage public per-
formance by large groups of them makes available a
new color to the composer of choral and orchestral music,
and promises many a thrill to the concert-goer of the
future.

It is the head register, or thin voice, that produces
the pure, flutelike tones which are the essential charm

THE BOY CHOIR AND ITJS PROBLEMS 123

of a boy choir, and if chest tones are to be employed at
all, they must be made as nearly as possible as are the
head tones, thus causing the voice to produce an approxi-
mately uniform timbre in the entire scale. This may
be accomplished with a fair degree of ease by a strict
adherence to the three principles of procedure mentioned
in the above paragraph. In fact these three things are
almost the beginning, middle, and end of child-voice
training, and since they thus form the sine qua non of
effective boy-choir singing, we shall emphasize them
through reiteration.

1. The singing must be soft until the child has learned to produce tone
correctly as a habit.

2. Downward vocalization should be employed in the early stages, so as
to insure the use of the head voice.

3. The music should be high in range, in order that the child may be
given as favorable an opportunity as possible of producing his best tones.

When these principles are introduced in either a boy
choir or a public school system, the effect will at first be
disappointing, for the tone produced by the boy's head
voice is so small and seems so insignificant as compared
with the chest voice which he has probably been using,
that he is apt to resent the instruction, and perhaps to
feel that you are trying to make a baby, or worse yet, a
girl, out of him! But he must be encouraged to persist,
and after a few weeks or months of practice, the improve-
ment in his singing will be so patent that there will prob-
ably be no further trouble.

THE LIFE OF Boys are admitted to male choirs at

the boy voice from seven or eight to ten or twelve

years of age, but are often required to
undergo a course of training lasting a year or more be-
fore being permitted to sing with the choir in public.
For this reason, if for no other, the director of a boy choir
must be a thoroughly qualified voice trainer. He, cf
course, takes no voice that is not reasonably good to start

124 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

with, but after admitting a boy with a naturally good
vocal organ it is his task so to train that voice as to enable
it to withstand several hours of singing each day without
injury and to produce tones of maximal beauty as a mat-
ter of habit. But if the choir leader is not a thoroughly
qualified vocal instructor, or if he has erroneous ideals
of what boy-voice tone should be, the result is frequently
that the voice is overstrained and perhaps ruined; or else
the singing is of an insipid, lifeless, "hooty" character,
making one feel that an adult mixed choir is infinitely
preferable to a boy choir.*

Adolescence begins at the age of thirteen or fourteen in
boys, and with the growth of the rest of the body at this
time, the vocal organs also resume their increase in size,
the result being not only longer vocal cords and a cor-
respondingly lower range of voice, but an absolute
breaking down of the habits of singing that have been
established, and frequently a temporary but almost
total loss of control of the vocal organs. These changes
sometimes take place as early as the thirteenth year,
but on the other hand are frequently not noticeable until
the boy is fifteen or sixteen, and there are on record
instances of boys singing soprano in choirs until seven-
teen or even eighteen. The loss of control that accom-
panies the change of voice (with which we are all
familiar because of having heard the queer alternations of
squeaking and grumbling in which the adolescent toy so
frequently indulges), is due to the fact that the larynx,
vocal cords, et cetera, increase in size more rapidly than
the muscles develop strength to manipulate them, and
this rapid increase in the size of the parts (in boys a
practical doubling in the length of the vocal cords) makes
it incumbent upon the choir trainer to use extreme cau-

* Even when an ideal type of tone is secured, there is considerable difference of opinion
as to whether the boy soprano is, all in all, as effective as the adult female voice. Many
consider that the child is incapable of expressing a sufficient variety of emotions because
of his lack of experience with life, and that the boy-soprano voice is therefore unsuitei
1o the task assigned it, especially when the modern conception of religion is taken into
consideration. But to settle this controversy is no part of our task, hence we shall not
even express an opinion upon the matter.

THE BOY CHOIR AND ITS PROBLEMS 125

tion in handling the voices at this time, just as the em-
ployer of adolescent boys must use great care in setting
them at any sort of a task involving heavy lifting or
other kinds of strain. In the public schools, where no
child is asked to sing more than ten or twelve minutes
a day, no harm is likely to result; but in a choir which
rehearses from one to two hours each day and frequently
sings at a public service besides, it seems to be the con-
sensus of opinion that the boy is taking a grave risk in
continuing to sing while his voice is changing.* He is
usually able to sing the high tones for a considerable
period after the low ones begin to develop; but to con-
tinue singing the high tones is always attended with
considerable danger, and many a voice has undoubtedly
been ruined for after use by singing at this time. The
reason for encouraging the boy to keep on singing is, of
course, that the choirmaster, having trained a voice for
a number of years, dislikes losing it when it is at the very
acme of, brilliancy. For this feeling he can hardly be
blamed, for the most important condition of successful
work by a male choir is probably permanency of member-
ship; and the leader must exercise every wile to keep the
boys in, once they have become useful members of the
organization. But in justice to the boy's future, he ought
probably in most cases to be dismissed from the choir
when his voice begins to change.

Let us now summarize the advice given up to this
point before going on to the consideration of our second
problem:

t*t ^ 1- Have the boys sing in high range most of the time.

— fl The actual compass of the average choir boy's voice is
-— ° probably g— «'" but his best tones will be between e ' and

^ g '. An occasional a "orb "or ad' ore 'will do no harm,

but the voice must not remain outside of the range e — g " for long at a time.

* Browne and Behnke, in The Child's Voice, p. 75, state in reply to a questionnaire
sent out to a large number of choir trainers, singers, et cetera, that seventy-nine persons out
of one hundred fifty-two stated positively that singing through the period of puberty
"causes certain injury, deterioration, or ruin to the after voice." In the same book are
found also (pp. 85 to 90) a series of extremely interesting comments on the choirmaster's
temptation to use a voice after it begins to change.

126 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

2. Insist upon soft singing until correct habits are established. There
is a vast difference of opinion as to what soft singing means, and we have
no means of making the point clear except to say that at the outset of his
career the boy can scarcely sing too softly. Later on, after correct habits are
formed, the singing may, of course, be louder, but it should at no time be so
loud as to sound strained.

3. Train the voice downward for some time before attempting upward
vocalization.

4. Dismiss the boy from the choir when his voice begins to change, even
if you need him and if he needs the money which he receives for singing.

THE BOY The second special problem mentioned at
himself ^ne beginning of this chapter is the manage-
ment of the boys owning the voices which
we have just been discussing; and this part of the choir-
masters task is considerably more complex, less amen-
able to codification, and requires infinitely more art for
its successful prosecution. One may predict with reason-
able certainty what a typical boy-voice will do as the
result of certain treatment; but the wisest person can
not foresee what the result will be when the boy himself
is subjected to any specified kind of handling. As a
matter of fact, there is no such thing as a typical boy,
and even if there were, our knowledge of boy nature in
general has been, at least up to comparatively recent
times, so slight that it has been impossible to give direc-
tions as to his management.

HOW TO In general, that choir director will suc-

HANDLE BOYS cee(j ^est in keeping his boys in the
choir and in getting them to do good
work, who, other things being equal, keeps on the best
terms with them personally. Our advice is, therefore,
that the prospective director of a choir of boys find
out just as much as possible about the likes and dislikes,
the predilections and the prejudices of pre-adolescent
boys, and especially that he investigate ways and means
of getting on good terms with them. He will find that
most boys are intensely active at this stage, for their

THE BOY CHOIR AND ITS PROBLEMS 127

bodies are not growing very much, and there is there-
fore a large amount of superfluous energy. This activity
on their part is perfectly natural and indeed wholly com-
mendable; and yet it will be very likely to get the boy
into trouble unless some one is at hand to guide his
energy into useful channels. This does not necessarily
mean making him do things that he does not like to
do; on the contrary, it frequently involves helping him
to do better, something that he already has a taste for
doing. Space does not permit details; but if the reader
will investigate the Boy Scout movement, the supervised
playground .idea, and the development of school ath-
letics, as well as the introduction of manual training of
various sorts, trips to museums of natural history,
zoological and botanical gardens, et cetera, school
"hikes' ' and other excursions, and similar activities
that now constitute a part of the regular school work in
many of our modern educational institutions, he will
find innumerable applications of the idea that we are
presenting; and he will perhaps be surprised to discover
that the boy of today likes to go to school; that he ap-
plies at home many of the things that he learns there,
and that he frequently regards some teacher as his best
friend instead of as an arch enemy, as formerly. These
desirable changes have not taken place in all schools by
any means, but the results of their introduction have
been so significant that a constantly increasing number
of schools are adopting them; and public school educa-
tion is to mean infinitely more in the future than it has
in the past because we are seeing the necessity of look-
ing at things through the eyes of the pupil, and especially
from the standpoint of his life outside of and after leav-
ing the school. Let the choir trainer learn a lesson
from the public school teacher, and let him not consider
the boy to be vicious just because he is lively, and let
him not try to repress the activity but rather let him
train it into useful channels. Above all, let him not

128 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

fail to take into consideration the boys viewpoint, al-
ways treating his singers in such a way that they will
feel that he is "playing fair." It has been found that
if boys are given a large share in their own government,
they are not only far easier to manage at the time, but
grow enormously in maturity of social ideals, and are
apt to become much more useful citizens because of
such growth. Placing responsibility upon the boys in-
volves trusting them, of course, but it has been found
that when the matter has been presented fairly and
supervised skilfully, they have always risen to the re-
sponsibility placed upon their shoulders. We therefore
recommend that self-government be inaugurated in the
boy choir, that the boys be allowed to elect officers out
of their own ranks, and that the rules and regulations be
worked out largely by the members themselves with a
minimum of assistance from the choirmaster.

Let us not make th'e serious mistake of supposing that
in order to get on the good side of boys we must make
their work easy. Football is not easy, but it is extremely
popular! It is the motive rather than the intrinsic
difficulty of the task that makes the difference. The
thing needed by the choir director is a combination of
firmness (but not crossness) with the play spirit. Let
him give definite directions, and let these directions be
given with such decision that there will never be any
doubt as to whether they are to be obeyed; but let him
always treat the boys courteously and pleasantly, and
let him always convey the idea that he is not only fair
in his attitude toward them, but that he is attempting
to be friendly as well.

Work the boys hard for a half hour or so, therefore,
and then stop for five minutes and join them in a game of
leapfrog, if that is the order of the day. If they invite
you to go with them on a hike or picnic, refuse at your
peril; and if you happen to be out on the ball ground
when one side is short a player, do not be afraid of losing

THE BOY CHOIR AND ITS PROBLEMS 129

your dignity, but jump at the chance of taking a hand
in the game. Some one has said that "familiarity breeds
contempt, only if one of the persons be contemptible/ '
and this dictum might well be applied to the management
of the boy choir. On the other hand, it is absolutely
necessary to maintain discipline in the choir rehearsal,
and it is also necessary to arouse in the boys a mental
attitude that will cause them to do efficient work and
to conduct themselves in a quiet and reverent manner
during the church service; hence the necessity for rules
and regulations and for punishments of various kinds.
But the two things that we have been outlining are
entirely compatible, and the choir director who plays
with the boys and is hailed by them as a good fellow will
on the whole have far less trouble than he who holds
himself aloof and tries to reign as a despot over his little
kingdom.

REMUNERATION In conclusion, a word should perhaps be

added about various plans of remunerat-
ing the boys for their singing. In some
large churches and cathedrals a choir-school is main-
tained and the boys receive food, clothing, shelter, and
education in return for their services; but this entails a
very heavy expense, and in most smaller churches the
boys are paid a certain amount for each rehearsal and
service, or possibly a lump sum per week. The amount
received by each boy depends upon his voice, his expe-
rience, his attitude toward the work, et cetera, rin other
words, upon his usefulness as a member of the choir.
Attempts have often been made to organize a boy choir
on the volunteer basis, but this plan has not usually
proved to be successful, and is not advocated.

When the boys live in their own homes and there are
Sunday services only, the usual plan is to have them meet
for about two rehearsals each week by themselves, with
a third rehearsal for the full choir. Often the men have a

130 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

separate practice also, especially if they are not good
readers.

If the organization is to be permanent, it will be neces-
sary to be constantly on the lookout for new voices, these
being trained partly by themselves and partly by singing
with the others at the rehearsals through the period of
weeks or months before they are permitted to take part
in the public services. In this way the changing voices
that drop out are constantly being replaced by newly
trained younger boys, and the number in the chorus is
kept fairly constant.

CHAPTER XIII

The Conductor as Voice Trainer

THE CONDUCTOR'S Correct voice placement, the full use
NEED Oh \ OCAL Qf j-jie resonance cavities, good habits

of breathing, and other details con-
nected with what is commonly termed voice culture, can-
not be taught by correspondence; neither can the con-
ductor be made an efficient voice trainer by reading
books. But so many choral conductors are failing to
secure adequate results from their choruses because of
their ignorance of even the fundamentals of singing,
that it has been thought best to include a brief presenta-
tion of a few of the most important matters with which
the conductor ought to be acquainted. In discussing
these things it will only be possible for us to present to
the student of conducting the problems involved, leaving
their actual working out to each individual. The chief
difficulty in connection with the whole matter arises
from the fact that the conductor needs in his work cer-
ta'n qualities of musicianship that are more apt to result
from instrumental than from vocal training, the educa-
tion of the instrumentalist usually emphasizing harmony,
ear-training, form, and in general, the intellectual aspect
of music; while that of the vocalist too often entirely
leaves out this invaluable type of training, dealing only
with voice culture and in general the interpretative side
of music study. The vocalist who attempts to conduct
is therefore frequently criticized for his lack of what is
called "solid musical training"; but the instrumentalist-
conductor as often fails to get adequate results in working
with singers because of his utter ignorance of vocal pro-
cedure; and this latter type of failure is probably as
productive of poor choral singing as the former. This

132 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

chapter is, of course, written especially for the instru-
mentalist, and our advice to him is not merely to read
books about singing, but to study singing itself, whether
he is interested in cultivating his own voice for solo pur-
poses or not. It might be remarked in this connection
that aside from the considerations that we have been
naming, the conductor who can sing a phrase to his
orchestra or chorus and thus show by imitation exactly
what shading, et cetera, he wishes, has an enormous advan-
tage over him who can only convey his ideas by means of
words.

PROPER Probably the first thing about singing to

breathing j^ leamed by the student of conducting is
that good voice production depends upon
using the full capacity of the lungs instead of merely the
upper portion. Hence the necessity of holding the body
easily erect as a matter of habit, with chest up, and with
the diaphragm alternately pushing the viscera away in
order to enable the lungs to expand downward, and then
allowing the parts to come back into place again, as the
air is in turn expelled from the lungs. By practising
deep breathing in this way the actual capacity of the
lungs may be considerably increased, and breathing
exercises have therefore always formed part of the rou-
tine imposed upon the vocal student. A deep breath
involves, then, a pushing down of the diaphragm and
a pushing out of the lower ribs, and not merely an ex-
pansion of the upper part of the chest. The singer
must form the habit of breathing in this way at all
times. To test breathing, the singer may place the
hands about the waist on the sides of the thorax (fingers
toward the front, thumbs toward the back) and see
whether there is good side expansion of the ribs in inhal-
ing, and whether in taking breath the abdomen swells
out, receding as the air is expelled. We have always felt
that a few minutes spent at each chorus rehearsal in

%

THE CONDUCTOR AS VOICE TRAINER 133

deep breathing and in vocalizing would more than jus-
tify the time taken from practising music; but such
exercises should not be undertaken unless the conductor
understands singing and knows exactly what their pur-
pose is.

It is important that the conductor should understand
the difference between the use of the singer's full breath
which we have been describing, and his half breath. The
full breath is taken at punctuation marks of greater
value, at long rests, before long sustained tones, and, in
solo singing, before long trills or cadenzas. The half
breath is usually taken at the lesser punctuation marks
and at short rests, when it is necessary to replenish
the supply of air in as short a time as possible, in order
not to interrupt the legato any more than is absolutely
necessary

breath The next point to be noted is that, having
CONTROL provided as large a supply of air as possible
every particle of it must now be made use of
in producing tone; in the first place, in order that no
breath may be wasted, and in the second place, in order
that the purity of the tone may not be marred by non-
vocalized escaping breath. This implies absolute breath
control, and the skilful singer is able to render incredibly
long phrases in one breath, not so much because his
lungs have more capacity, but because every atom of
breath actually functions in producing vocal tone. And
because of the fact that no breath escapes without set-
ting the cords in vibration, the tone is clear, and not
1 'breathy.' ' The secret of expressive singing in sustained
melody is absolutely steady tone combined with a perfect
legato, and neither of these desirable things can be
achieved without perfect breath control, this matter
applying to choral singing as forcefully as it does to solo
work.

134 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

resonance The next point to be noted is that the
carrying power and quality of a voice de-
pend far more upon the use made of the resonance
cavities than upon the violence with which the vocal
cords vibrate. Every musical instrument involves, in
its production of tone, a combination of three elements:

1. The vibrating body.

2. The force which sets the body in vibration.

3. The reinforcing medium (the sound board of a piano, the body of
a violin, ei cetera.)

In the case of the human voice, the vocal cords (or, as
they might more properly be termed, the vocal bands)
constitute the vibrating body; the air expelled from
the lungs is the force which sets the cords in vibration;
and the cavities of the mouth, nose, and to a lesser
extent, of the remainder of the head and even of the
chest, are the reinforcing medium — the resonator. A
small voice cannot of course be made into a large one;
but by improving its placement, and particularly by
reinforcing it with as much resonance power as possible,
it may be caused to fill even a large auditorium. This
involves such details as keeping the tongue down, allow-
ing part of the air to pass through the nose, focusing
the tone against the roof of the mouth just back of the
teeth, opening the mouth exactly the right distance,
forming the lips in just the right way, et cetera. The re-
sult is that instead of sounding as though it came from
the throat, the tone apparently comes from the upper
part of the mouth just back of the teeth; and instead
of seeming to be forced out, it appears to flow or float
out without the slightest effort on the part of the singer.
A forced or squeezed-out tone is always bad — bad for
the voice and bad for the ear of the listener!

THE VOWEL IN Another point to be noted by the con-

SINGING ductor is that one sings upon vowels

and not upon consonants; that most of

the consonants are in fact merely devices for interrupt-

THE CONDUCTOR AS VOICE TRAINER 135

ing the vowel sounds in various ways; and that good
tone depends largely upon the ability of the singer to
select the best of several different sounds of the vowel
and to hold this sound without any change in quality
during the entire time that the tone is prolonged. It
is comparatively easy to make a good tone with some
vowels, but extremely difficult with others, and it is the
singer's task so to modify the vowel that is unfavorable
as to make it easier to produce good tone in using it.
But while thus modifying the actual vowel sound, the
integrity of the vowel must at least be sufficiently pre-
served to enable the listener to understand what vowel
is being sung. All this is particularly difficult in singing
loudly, and it is largely for this reason that the vocal
student is required by his teacher to practise softly so
much of the time. Some vowels have two parts (e.g.,
i = a + e), and here it is the singer's task to sustain
the part upon which the better tone can be made, sound-
ing the other part only long enough to produce a correct
total effect.

CONSONANTS As noted above, the consonants are in
general merely devices for cutting off the
flow of vowel sound in various ways, and one of the most
difficult problems confronting the singer in his public
performances is to articulate the consonants so skilfully
that the words shall be easy to follow by the audience,
and at the same time to keep the vowel sounds so pure
and their flow so uninterrupted that the singing may be
perfect in its tone quality and in its legato. It is because
this matter presents great difficulty that the words of
the singer with a good legato can so seldom be under-
stood, while the declamatory vocalist who presents his
words faultlessly is apt to sing with no legato at all.
The problem is not insoluble, but its solution can only
be accomplished through years of study under expert
guidance. Vocal teachers in general will probably dis-

136 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

agree with us; but it is our opinion that in choral per-
formance at least, the tone rather than the words should
be sacrificed if one or the other has to give way, and the
choral conductor is therefore advised to study the use
of the consonants most carefully, and to find out how
to make use of every means of securing well enunciated
words from his body of singers.

RELAXATION The next point to be noted is the impor-
tance of what vocal teachers refer to as the
"movable lower jaw," this, of course, implying abso-
lute (but controlled) relaxation of all muscles used in
singing. Without relaxation of this sort, the tone is
very likely to be badly placed, the sound seeming to
come from the throat, and the whole effect being that
of tone squeezed out or forced out instead of tone flow-
ing or floating out, as described in a previous paragraph.
This difficulty is, of course, most obvious in singing the
higher tones; and one remedy within the reach of the
choral conductor is to test all voices carefully and not
to allow anyone to sing a part that is obviously too high.
But in addition to this general treatment of the matter,
it will often be possible for the director to urge upon his
chorus the necessity of relaxation in producing tone,
thus reminding those who tighten up unconsciously
that they are not singing properly, and conveying to
those who are ignorant of the matter at least a hint
regarding a better use of their voices.

VOCAL A vocal register has been defined as "a

registers series 0f tones produced by the same
mechanism.' ' This means that in begin-
ning with the lowest tone of the voice and ascending the
scale, one comes to a point where before going on to the
next scale-tone, a readjustment of the vocal organs is
necessary, this change in the action of the larynx and
vocal cords being felt by the singer and heard by the

THE CONDUCTOR AS VOICE TRAINER 137

listener. The point at which the readjustment takes
place, i.e., the place where the voice goes from one regis-
ter into another, is called the break; and one of the
things the voice trainer tries to do for each pupil is to
teach him to pass so skilfully from one register to an-
other that these breaks will not he noticeable to the
hearer — the voice eventually sounding an even scale
from its lowest to its highest tone. There is consider-
able difference of opinion as to the number of registers
existing in any one voice, but perhaps the majority of
writers incline to the view that there are three; the chest
or lower, the thin or middle, and the small or head. It
should be noted, however, that the readjustment in the
action of the vocal cords referred to above probably
takes place only when passing from the lowest register
to the next higher one, and that such changes in action
as occur at other points are more or less indefinite and
possibly even somewhat imaginary. Authorities differ
as to just what the change in mechanism is in passing
from the chest register to the middle one; but the most
plausible explanation seems to be that in the lowest
register, the change in pitch from a lower tone to the
next higher one is accomplished at least partly by
stretching the vocal bands more tightly, and that when
the limit of this stretching process has been reached,
the cords relax slightly, and from this point on each
higher tone is made by shortening the vibrating portion
of the cords; in other words, by decreasing the length
of the glottis (the aperture between the vocal cords).
This point may become clearer if we compare the process
with tuning a violin string. The string may be a third
or a fourth below its normal pitch when the violinist
begins to tune his instrument, but by turning the peg
and thus stretching the string tighter and tighter, the
tone is raised by small degrees until the string gives
forth the pitch that it is supposed to sound. But this
same string may now be made to play higher and higher

138 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

pitches by pressing it against the fingerboard, thus
shortening the vibrating portion more and more. The
tuning process may be said to compare roughly with
the mechanism of the chest register of the human
voice; while the shortening of the string by pressing it
against the fingerboard is somewhat analogous to what
takes place in the higher registers of the voice.

We have now enumerated what seem to us to be the
most essential matters connected with vocal procedure;
and if to such information as is contained in the fore-
going paragraphs the conductor adds the knowledge that
the messa di voce (a beautiful vocal effect produced by
swelling a tone from soft to loud and then back again) is
to be produced by increase and decrease of breath pres-
sure and not by a greater or lesser amount of straining of
the throat muscles; that portamento (gliding by in-
finitely small degrees in pitch from one tone to another(,
although a valuable and entirely legitimate expressional
effect when used occasionally in a passage where its
employment is appropriate, may be over-used to such
an extent as to result in a slovenly, vulgar, and alto-
gether objectionable style of singing; and that whereas
the vibrato may imbue with virility and warmth an
otherwise cold, dead tone and if skilfully and judiciously
used may add greatly to the color and vitality of the
singing, the tremolo is on the other hand a destroyer of
pitch accuracy, a despoiler of vocal idealism, and an
abhorrence to the listener; if our conductor knows these
and other similar facts about singing, then he will not
run quite so great a risk of making himself ridiculous in
the eyes of the singers whom he is conducting as has
sometimes been the case when instrumentalists have
assumed control of vocal forces. But let us emphasize
again the fact that these things cannot be learned from a
book, but must be acquired through self -activity, z.e., by
actual experience in singing; hence the importance of vocal
study on the part of the prospective choral conductor.

THE CONDUCTOR AS VOICE TRAINER 139

In conclusion, let us enumerate the main points in-
volved in what is called good singing — these points apply-
ing to choral music as directly as to solo performance.

1. The intonation must be perfect; i.e., the tones produced must be
neither sharp nor flat, but exactly true to pitch.

2. The tone must be attacked and released exactly at the right pitch; i.e.,-
the voice must not begin on some indefinite lower tone and slide up, or on a
higher tone and slide down, but must begin on precisely the right pitch.

3. The tone must be absolutely steady, and there must be no wavering,
no tremolo, no uncertainty. This means absolute breath control.

4. The tones must follow one another without break, unless the character
of the music demands detached effects; in other words, there must be a perfect
legato. The tones must also follow each other cleanly, unless the character
of the music makes the use of portamento desirable.

5. The singer must feel the mood of each song, and must sing as he feels,
if he is to perform with real, expression. This is a much more vital matter in
song interpretation than the mere mechanical observation of tempo and
dynamic indications.

6. The text must be enunciated with sufficient clarity to enable the audi-
ence to catch at least the most important ideas presented. This involves
not only the complete pronunciation of each syllable instead of the slovenly
half -pronunciation so commonly heard; but implies as well that the sounds
be formed well forward in the mouth instead of back in the throat.

If the singing of a soloist or a chorus can meet the
test of these requirements, the singing may be called
good.

CHAPTER XIV

The Art of Program Making

THE PROBLEM In constructing a concert program for
STATED either a solo or an ensemble perform-

ance, and in the case of both vocal
and instrumental music, at least five important points
must be taken into consideration:

1. Variety. ^^

2. Unity.

3. Effective arrangement.
4 Appropriate length.

5. Adaptability to audience.

VARIETY We have given variety first place advisedly;
for it is by changing the style and particularly
through varying the emotional quality of the selections
that the conductor or performer will find it most easy to
hold the attention and interest of the audience. In these
days the matter of keeping an audience interested presents
far greater difficulty than formerly, for our audiences
are now much more accustomed to hearing good music
than they used to be, and a performance that is mod-
erately good and that would probably have held the
attention from beginning to end in the olden days will
now often be received with yawning, coughing, whisper-
ing, early leaving, and a spirit of uneasiness permeating
the entire audience, especially during the latter part of
the program. The change of etiquette brought about
by the phenomenal popularization of the moving picture
theater has doubtless had something to do with this
change in the attitude of our audiences; the spread of
musical knowledge and the far greater intelligence con-

THE ART OF PROGRAM MAKING 141

cerning musical performance manifested by the average
audience of today as compared with that of fifty years
ago is also partly responsible; but the brunt of the
charge must be borne by our habitual attitude of ner-
vous hurry, our impatience with slow processes of any
kind, and the demand for constant change of sensation
that is coming to characterize Americans of all ages and
classes. It is doubtless unfortunate that conditions are
as they are; but since the attitude of our audiences has
admittedly undergone a decided change, it behooves
the program maker to face conditions as they actually
exist, rather than to pretend that they are as he should
like them to be. Since our audiences are harder to
hold now than formerly, and since our first-class per-
formers (except possibly in the case of orchestral music)
are probably not greatly above the level of the first-class
performers of a generation ago (although larger in num-
ber), it will be necessary to keep the listener interested
by employing methods of program making, which,
although they have always been not only entirely legi-
timate but highly desirable, are now absolutely neces-
sary. As stated above, the obvious way to help our
audience to listen to an entire concert is to provide
variety of material — a heavy number followed by a
fight one; a slow, flowing adagio by a bright snappy
scherzo; a tragic and emotionally taxing song like the
Erl-King by a sunny and optimistic lyric; a song or a
group of songs in major possibly relieved by one in
minor; a coloratura aria by a song in cantabile style; a
group of songs in French by a group in English; a com-
position in severe classic style by one of romantic tend-
ency, et cetera. These contrasting elements are not, of
course, to be introduced exactly as they are here listed,
and this series of possible contrasts is cited rather to
give the amateur maker of programs an idea of what is
meant by contrast rather than to lay down rules to be
followed in the actual construction of programs.

142 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

UNITY But while contrast is necessary to keep the
audience from becoming bored or weary, there
must not be so much variety that a lack of unity is felt
L,in the program as a whole^ It must be constructed like
a symphony — out of material that has variety and yet
that all belongs together. Lin other words, the program,
like a musical composition, must achieve unity in varietyT]
and this is the second main problem confronting the con-
ductor or performer who is planning a concert. It is
impossible to give specific directions as to how unity is
to be secured, for this is a matter to be determined
almost wholly upon the basis of taste, and taste is not
subjectable to codification. The most that we can do
for the amateur at this point, as at so many others, is
to set before him the main problem involved, and in
constructing a program, this is undoubtedly to provide
variety of material and yet to select numbers that go
well together and seem to cohere as a unified group.

LENGTH Our third question in making a program of
musical works is, how long shall it be? The
answer is, "It depends upon the quality of the audience."
An audience composed largely of trained concert -goers,
many of whom are themselves musicians, can listen to
a program composed of interesting works and presented
by a first-rate artist even though it extends through a
period of two and a half hours, although on general prin
ciples a two-hour program is probably long enough.
But one made up mostly of people who have had very
little musical training, who read little except the daily
newspaper and the lightest sort of fiction, and whose
chief amusement is probably attendance upon the pic-
ture show, — such an audience must not be expected to
listen to a program that is either too heavy or too long;
and our judgment is that for such a group a program
an hour and a half long is probably more suitable than
one of two or two and a half hours. Our feeling is,

THE ART OF PROGRAM MAKING 143

furthermore, that the "tired business man" would not
object so strenuously to attending the serious musical
performances to which his wife urges him to go if some
of these matters were considered more carefully by the
artist in planning the program! But here again, of
course, we have a matter which depends altogether
upon the kind of music presented, whether the entire
program is given by one artist or whether there are
several performers, whether the whole program is of
one kind of music or whether there is variety of voice
and instrument, whether the performers are amateurs
or professionals, and upon whether the performer is an
artist of the first rank and is able by his perfection of
technique, his beauty of tone, and his emotional verve,
to hold his audience spellbound for an indefinite length
of time, or whether he belongs to the second or third
rank of performers and is able to arouse only an average
amount of interest. Our purpose in including a dis-
cussion of the matter is principally in order that we
may have an opportunity of warning the amateur con-
ductor not to cause an audience which would probably
give favorable consideration to a short program, to
become weary and critical by compelling them to sit
through too long a performance. This is particularly
true in the case of amateur performance; and since this
book is written chiefly for the amateur director, it may
not be out of order to advise him at this point to plan
programs not more than an hour or an hour and a quar-
ter long, at first. It is far better to have the audience
leaving the auditorium wishing the program had been
longer than to have them grumbling because it is too
long.

ADAPTABILITY Our fourth problem has already been

TO AUDIENCES presented in discussing the other three,

for it is because of the necessity of

adapting the performance to the audience that we have

144 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

insisted upon variety, unity, and reasonable length.
Many a concert has turned out to be an utter fiasco
because of failure on the part of the program maker to
consider the type of people who were to listen to it;
and although on such occasions it is customary for the
performer to ascribe his failure to the stupidity of the
audience, it must nevertheless be acknowledged that
the fault is more commonly to be laid at the door of the
one who planned the event. A program composed of
two symphonies and an overture or two, or of two or three
Beethoven sonatas, is not a suitable meal for the con-
glomerate crowd comprising the "average audience";
indeed it is doubtful whether in general it is the best
kind of diet for any group of listeners. Here again we
cannot give specific directions, since conditions vary
greatly, and we must content ourselves once more
with having opened up the problem for thought and
discussion.

effective Having selected musical material that

arrangement js varieci m content and yet appropriate
for performance upon the same pro-
gram; having taken into consideration what kind of
music is adapted to our audience and how much of it
they will probably be able to listen to without becoming
weary; our final problem will now be so to arrange the
numbers that each one will be presented at the point in
the program where it will be likely to be most favorably
received, and will make the most lasting impression
upon the auditors.

In general, of course, the heavier part of the program
should usually come in the first half and the lighter
part in the second, for the simple reason that it is at the
beginning that our minds and bodies are fresh and un-
wearied, and since we are able to give closer attention at
that time we should accordingly be supplied with the
more strenuous music when we are best able to digest

THE ART OF PROGRAM MAKING 145

it. But although this is doubtless true in most cases,
we have often noticed that audiences are restless during
the first part of the concert, and frequently do not get
u warmed up" to the point of giving close attention to
the performance until ten or fifteen minutes after the
program begins, and sometimes not until the second
half has been reached. For this reason, and also to
cover the distraction arising from the entrance of the
ubiquitous late-comer, it seems best to us that some
shorter and fighter work be placed at the very beginning
of the program — possibly an overture, in the case of a
symphony concert. The phenomenon here alluded to
has an exact parallel in the church service. When we
enter the church, we are thinking about all sorts of
things connected with our daily life, and it takes us some
little time to forget these extraneous matters and adjust
ourselves to the spirit of a church service, and particu-
larly to get into the appropriate mood for listening to a
sermon. The organ prelude and other preliminary parts
of the service have as their partial function, at least, the
transference of our thoughts and attitudes from their
former chaotic and egoistic state to one more appropriate
to the demands of the more serious part of the service
to follow. Somewhat the same sort of thing is found in
the case of the majority of people who go to a concert
hall for an evening's performance, and although the
end to be attained is of course altogether different, yet
the method should probably be somewhat the same. Our
feeling is therefore that there ought usually to be some
comparatively light number at the beginning of the con-
cert program in order that we may be assisted in getting
into the listening mood before the heavier works are
presented. On the other hand, an artist often plunges
into a difficult composition at the very beginning of
the concert, and by his marvelous technique or his
tremendous emotional vitality sweeps his audience im-
mediately into an attitude of rapt attention; all of which

146 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

proves again that art is intangible, subtle, and ever-vary-
ing— as we stated at the beginning.

THE importance In concluding our very brief state-
OF SMALL DETAILS ment 0f program-inaking, it may be

well to mention the fact that small
details often have a good deal to do with the failure of
audiences to follow the program with as keen attention
as might be desired. These details are often overlooked
or disdained merely because they seem too trifling to
make it worth the artist's while to notice them; but by
seeing to it that the concert hall is well warmed (or well
cooled), that it is well lighted and well ventilated; that
the doors are closed when the first number begins, and
that no one is allowed to enter during the performance of
any number; that there are no long waits either at the
beginning or between numbers; that unnecessary street
and other outside noises are stopped or shut out so far
as practicable; and that the printed program (if it has
more than one sheet) is so arranged that the pages do not
have to be turned while compositions are being performed
— by providing in advance for someone who will see to
all these little matters, the artist may often be rewarded
by a fine type of concentrated attention which would not
be possible if the minds of the individuals comprising the
audience were being distracted by these other things.

The printer too bears no small responsibility in this
matter of having an audience follow a program with un-
diminished attention from beginning to end, and there
is no doubt that the tastefully printed page (and par-
ticularly if there are explanatory remarks concerning the
composer, style, meaning of the composition, et cetera)
will usually be followed with much keener attention than
one the parts of which have merely been thrown to-
gether. The reason for this we shall leave for some one
else to discuss — possibly some writer of the future upon
"the psychology of the printed page."

CHAPTER XV

Conductor and Accompanist

NECESSITY OF In chorus directing, it is of the utmost
CORDIAL importance that conductor and accom-

panist not only understand one another
thoroughly, but that the relationship between them be so
sympathetic, so cordial, that there may never be even a
hint of non-unity in the ensemble. The unskilful or
unsympathetic accompanist may utterly ruin the effect
of the most capable conducting; and the worst of it is
that if the accompanist is lacking in cordiality toward the
conductor, he can work his mischief so subtly as to make
it appear to all concerned as if the conductor himseH
were to blame for the ununified attacks and ragged
rhythms.*

CHOOSING THE In order to obviate the disadvantages
ACCOMPANIST t-naj- are lively t0 arise from having a

poor accompanist, the conductor must
exercise the greatest care in choosing his coworker.
Unless he knows of some one concerning whose ability
there is no question, the best plan is probably to have
several candidates compete for the position; and in this
case, the points to be especially watched for are as
follows :

1 . Adequate technique.

2. Good reading ability.

3. Sympathetic response to vocal nuance.

4. Willingness to cooperate and to accept suggestions.

* On the other hand, the conductor sometimes shifts the responsibility for mishaps to
the accompanist when the latter is in no wise to blame, as, e.g., when the organ ciphers
or a page does not turn properly.

148 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

Of these four, the last two are by no means the least
important; and sometimes it is better to choose the
person who has less skill in reading or technique but who
has sufficient innate musical feeling to enable him not
only to follow a soloist's voice or a conductor's beat in-
telligently, but even to anticipate the dynamic and tempo
changes made by singer or conductor.

The minds of conductor and accompanist must work
as one. In stopping his chorus for a correction, it should
be possible for the conductor to assume that the accom-
panist has followed him so carefully and is in such close
musical rapport with him that, before the conductor
speaks, the accompanist has already found the badly
executed passage, and the instant the conductor cites
page and score, is ready to play the phrase or interval
that was wrongly rendered. The same sort of thing ought
of course to take place whenever, there is a change of
tempo, and it is to be noted that in all these cases the
accompanist must make a musical response to the con-
ductor's interpretation, and not merely an obedient one.

COURTEOUS Having chosen the best available person
TREATMENT ^Q (jQ ^ie accompanying, the next thing

NECESSARY . , -n u + + + *u -t

m order will be to treat the accompanist

in such a way that he will always do his best and be a
real help in causing the chorus to produce effective
results. Next to the conductor, the accompanist is un-
doubtedly the most important factor in producing fine
choral singing; hence our reference to the accompanist
as the conductor's coworker. The first thing to note
in connection with getting the best possible help from
the accompanist is that he shall always be treated in a
pleasant, courteous way, and the conductor must learn
at the very outset not to expect impossible things from
him; not to blame him for things that may go wrong
when some one else is really responsible; and in general,
to do his utmost to bring about and to maintain friendly

CONDUCTOR AND ACCOMPANIST 149

pleasant relations. This will mean a smile of approval
when the accompanist has done particularly well ; it may
involve publicly sharing honors with him after a well
rendered performance; and it certainly implies a recep-
tive attitude on the conductor's part if the accompanist
is sufficiently interested to make occasional suggestions
about the rendition of the music.

If you as conductor find it necessary to make criticisms
or suggestions to the accompanist, do this privately, not
in the presence of the chorus. Much of the sting of a
criticism frequently results from the fact that others have
heard it, and very often if the matter is brought up with
the utmost frankness in a private interview, no bad blood
will result, but if a quarter as much be said in the pres-
ence of others, a rankling wound may remain which will
make it extremely difficult for the conductor and accom-
panist to do good musical work together thenceforth.

NECESSITY OF One of the best ways to save time

PROVIDING THE at tjie rehearsal is to provide the

MUSIC IN ADVANCE. .. -.i ., * • . i

accompanist with the music m ad-
vance. Even a skilful reader will do more intelligent
work the first time a composition is taken up if he has
had an opportunity to go through it beforehand. This
may involve considerable trouble on the conductor's
part, but hrs effort will be well rewarded in the much
more effective support that the accompanist will be able
to furnish if he has had an opportunity to look over the
music. When the accompanist is not a good reader,
it is, of course, absolutely imperative that he not only
be given an opportunity to study the score in advance,
but that he be required to do so. If in such a case the
conductor does not see to it that a copy of the music
is placed in the accompanist's hands several days before
each rehearsal, he will simply be digging his own grave,
figuratively speaking, and will have no one but himself
to blame for the poor results that are bound to follow.

150 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

ORGAN If the accompaniments are played on

accompanying tne orgall) the conductor will need

to take into consideration the fact
that preparing and manipulating stops, pistons, and
combination pedals takes time, and he will therefore
not expect the organist to be ready to begin to play the
instant he takes his place on the bench; neither will he
be unreasonable enough to assume that the organist
ought to be ready to pass from one number to another
(e.g., from a solo accompaniment to a chorus) without
being given a reasonable amount of time for arranging
the organ. The fact that in such a case the accompanist
has been working continuously, whereas the director has
had an opportunity of resting during the solo number,
ought also to be taken into consideration; and it may
not be unreasonable for the organist to wish for a
moment's pause in order that he may adjust his mental
attitude from that demanded by the preceding number
to that which is appropriate to the number to follow.
All this is especially to be noted in performances of
sacred music, in which no time is taken between the
numbers for applause. In any case, the least the con-
ductor can do is to watch for the organist to look up
after he has prepared the organ, and then to signal
him pleasantly with a nod and a smile that he is ready
to go on with the next number. This will not only in-
sure complete preparedness of the organ, but will help
"oil the machinery" and keep relations pleasant.

The conductor of a church choir should remember that
the organist has probably studied and is familiar with
the dynamic resources of his instrument to a much
greater extent than the conductor; and that many
times the organist is not depending upon his ear in decid-
ing the amount of organ needed, so much as upon his
knowledge of what the total effect will be in the audi-
torium. It is frequently impossible to tell from the
choir loft how loud or how soft the sound of the organ

CONDUCTOR AND ACCOMPANIST 151

is in the body of the house. The conductor, not know-
ing the dynamic values of the various stop combinations
as well as the organist, must not presume to criticize
the latter for playing too loudly or too softly unless he
has gone down into the auditorium to judge the effect
there. Even this is not an absolute guide, for the
balance is very likely to be different when the auditorium
is full of people from what it was when empty. More-
over, the amount of choral tone frequently increases
greatly under the stimulus of public performance. All
in all, therefore, a good organist should be permitted to
use his own judgment in this matter. In any case, do
not resort to conspicuous gestures to let him know that
there is too much or too little organ. He has probably
discovered it as soon as you have, and will add or sub-
tract as soon as it can be done without making an in-
artistic break in the dynamic continuity of the accom-
paniment. If a signal becomes absolutely necessary,
make it as inconspicuously as possible.

ACCOMPANIST We have previously stressed the fact that

MUST SEE j-he conductor must stand so that his beat

DIRECTOR i -i i ii ,. i

may be easily seen by all performers; and

this matter is of the utmost importance in connection
with the accompanist. He must be able to see you
easily if he is to follow your beat accurately ; further, he
should be able to see your face as well as your baton,
if a really sympathetic musical relationship is to exist.
This may appear to be a small point, but its non-observ-
ance is responsible for many poor attacks and for much
"dragging" and "running away" on the part of accom-
panists.

The sum and substance of the whole matter may be
epitomized in the advice, "Be courteous, considerate,
and sensible in dealing with your accompanist and verily
thou shalt receive thy reward!"

CHAPTER XVI

Efficiency in the Rehearsal

ORGANIZING ABILITY Having now reviewed the various

NEEDED TO AVOID essentials in conducting from the
WASTING TIME . , . , ur &-

standpoint 01 public performance,

we wish emphatically to state our conviction that in
many cases both choruses and orchestras have been short-
lived, being abandoned after a season or two of more or
less unsatisfactory work, directly as a result of the in-
efficient methods used by the conductor in the rehearsal.
In an earlier chapter (p. 18) we noted that the success-
ful conductor of the present day must possess a personal-
ity combining traits almost opposite in their nature; viz.,
artistry and organizing ability. We were referring at that
time to business sense in general as needed by the con-
ductor in selecting works to be performed, deciding upon
the place, duration, and number of rehearsal periods,
engaging artists to assist in the public performances, and
in general, seeing to it that the business details of the
organization are attended to in an efficient manner. But
such organizing ability is needed most of all in planning
and conducting the rehearsal, and there is no doubt
that mediocre results at the public performance and not
infrequently the actual breaking up of amateur organiza-
tions may be traced more often to the inability of the
conductor to make the best use of his time in the always
inadequate rehearsal hour than to any other source. It
is for this reason that we have thought best to devote an
entire chapter to a discussion of what might be termed
"The Technique of the Rehearsal."

EFFICIENCY IN THE REHEARSAL 153

EFFICIENCY NOT The word efficiency has been used so
A DESTROYER of frequently in recent years that it has

come to be in almost as bad odor as
the word artistic, as employed by the would-be critic of
esthetic effects. This antipathy to the word is perhaps
most pronounced on the part of the artist, and there
has been a well-defined feeling on the part of a good many
of us that efficiency and advancement in art appreciation
do not perhaps go hand-in-hand as much as might be
desired. Granting the validity of this criticism of effi-
ciency as a national ideal, it must nevertheless be evident
that the artist has in the past been far too little con-
cerned with life's business affairs, and that both he and
his family on the one hand, and those having business
relations with Him on the other would be far better off
if the artist would cultivate a more businesslike attitude
in his relationships with the rest of the world. However
this may be in general, it is certain that the conductor
of the present must take more definitely into considera-
tion what is going on outside the world of art ; must rec-
ognize the fact that this is now a busy world and that
there are a great many interesting things to do and a
great many more distractions and amusements than
there were a half -century ago; and that if the members
of a chorus or orchestra (particularly in the case of an
amateur society) are to continue to attend rehearsals
regularly and to keep up their enthusiasm for the work
of the organization, the conductor must see to it that
something tangible is accomplished not only during each
season, but in each and every practice hour, and that
regular attendance at the rehearsals does not cause the
members to feel that they are wasting time and energy.
This is, after all, the essence of scientific managenfent —
to accomplish some desired result without any waste
moves and without squandering valuable material; and
surely no artistic loss will be involved if efficiency of this
type is applied to conducting a musical rehearsal. On

154 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

the contrary, the application of such methods will enable
the conductor to secure a much higher degree of artistry
in the public performance because, by avoiding any
waste of time in rehearsing, he will be able to put the
musicians through the music more often, and thus not
only arouse greater confidence on their part, but be
enabled to emphasize more strongly the interpretative,
the artistic aspect of the music. Most of the rehearsal
hour is often spent in drilling upon mere correctness
of tone and rhythm, especially in the case of amateur
organizations.

In order to make these matters as concrete and prac-
tical as possible, we shall give in the remainder of this
chapter a series of somewhat unrelated suggestions
about conducting an ensemble rehearsal, trusting that
the reader will forgive the didactic (and possibly pe-
dantic) language in which they are couched.

PLANNING Do not make the mistake of attempting

THE rehearsal |-0 study your score at the same time

that your singers or players are learn-
ing it. Study your music exhaustively beforehand so
that at the rehearsal you may know definitely just what
you are going to do with each selection and may be able
to give pointed directions as to its rendition. This will
enable you to look at your performers most of the time,
and the freedom from the score thus allowed will make
your conducting very much more effective and will
enable you to stir your singers out of their state of inertia
very much more quickly. Weingartner, in writing upon
this point (with especial reference to the public per-
formance) says:* "He should know it [the score] so
thoroughly that during the performance the score is
merely a support for his memory, not a fetter on his
thought." The same writer in another place quotes
von Bulow as dividing conductors into "those who have

* Weingartner. On Conducting, p. 43.

EFFICIENCY IN THE REHEARSAL 155

their heads in the score, and those who have the score
in their heads"!

Study the individual voice parts, so as to find out
so far as possible beforehand where the difficult spots are
and mark these with blue pencil, so that when you want
to drill on these places, you may be able to put your
finger on them quickly. It is very easy to lose the atten-
tion of your performers by delay in finding the place
which you want them to practise. It is a good plan, also,
to mark with blue pencil some of the more important dy-
namic and tempo changes so that these may be obvious to
the eye when you are standing several feet from the desk.

Decide beforehand upon some plan of studying each
composition, and if a number of works are to be taken up
at any given rehearsal, think over in advance the order
in which they are to be studied. In brief, make a plan for
each rehearsal, writing it out if necessary, and thus
avoid wasting time in deciding what is to be done.

In case you are a choir director, learn also to plan your
services weeks or even months in advance,* and then
keep working toward the complete carrying out of your
plan by familiarizing your musicians with the material
as far in advance of the public performance as possible.
In this way the music is absorbed, as it were, and the
singers and players are much more apt to feel at ease in
performing it than when it has been taken up at only
one or two rehearsals.

DISCIPLINE IN It is impossible to conduct well unless
THE rehearsal you have the absolute attention of

every singer or player. Hence the dis-
cipline at all rehearsals must be rather strict and the
performers must be trained to keep their eyes on you
practically all the time. (In the case of choral music,
it would be well to have a great deal more of it entirely

* The complete list of works to be given by leading symphony orchestras during the
entire season is usually decided upon during the preceding summer, and somewhat the
same procedure might profitably be followed with a church choir or an amateur orchestra.

15(3 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

committed to memory so that at the performance the
singers might be enabled to give the conductor their
absolute attention.) You have a perfect right to demand
that all shall work industriously during every working
minute of the rehearsal hour and that there shall be no
whispering or fooling whatsoever, either while you are
giving directions, or while you are conducting. If you
are unfortunate enough to have in your organization
certain individuals who do not attend to the work in
hand even after a private admonition, it will be far better
to drop them from the organization, for they are bound
to do more harm than good if they are retained. On the
other hand, you will recognize the temptation to whisper
which the performer feels while you are giving a long-
winded explanation of some pet theory of yours, and you
will accordingly cut down the amount of talking you do to
the minimum. A good rule to follow is this : "Talk little
at the rehearsal, but when you do talk, be sure that every one
listens" Keep your performers so busy that they will
have no time to think about anything but the work in
hand. Plan plenty of work so as to be able to keep things
moving through the entire hour. Better a rehearsal
conducted in this way and only one hour long, than a
slow-moving, boresome affair, two hours in length. If
the tax of such concentrated attention is too severe to
be kept up constantly for an entire hour, plan to have
a five-minute intermission when everyone may tall and
laugh and thus relax. The author has found that with
a body of amateur singers, a ninety-minute rehearsal,
with a five- to seven-minute intermission in the middle,
works very well indeed.

BEGINNING THE Do not shout at your chorus or
REHEARSAL orchestra if the members are noisy.

Wait until the noise subsides en-
tirely before you begin to speak, and address them in a
quiet, dignified, authoritative way when you do begin.

EFFICIENCY IN THE REHEARSAL 157

Unless you have some pointed remark to make about
the rendition of the music, it is far better to give merely
the place of beginning without making any remarks at
all. Securing quiet by a prolonged rapping with the
baton is a sign of weak discipline. Do not rap at all
until the music is distributed, the accompanist in his
place and ready to begin, your score open, and until you
know exactly what you are going to do first. Then let
just a slight tap or two suffice to notify everyone that
the rehearsal is to begin at once.

LEARNING In drilling on a difficult passage, it is usually
difficult better to stop at the actual spot where the
mistake occurs than to go on to the end and
then turn back. Find the exact spot that is causing
trouble and "reduce the area of correction to its narrow-
est limits/ ' as one writer * states it. It is to be noted
that merely one repetition of such a passage is usually
of little avail. It must be gone over enough times to fix the
correct method of rendition in mind and muscle as a habit.
If a section sings a certain passage incorrectly twice and
then correctly only once, the chances are that the
fourth time will be like the first two rather than like the
third. The purpose of drilling on such a passage is to
eradicate the wrong impression entirely and substitute
for it an entirely new habit at that point. After learn-
ing a difficult tonal or rhythmic phrase in this way, be
sure to fit it into its environment before assuming that
it has been finally mastered. The difficulty in such
passages often consists not in performing the intervals
or rhythms in isolation, but in doing them while the
other parts are going on.

LOCATE DIFFICULT In directing attention to some par-
SPOTS QUICKLY ticukr pkce m ^ SCQre about

which you wish to speak, give the
details of your direction always in the same order, viz.:

* Richardson, The Choir-trainer's Art, p. 156

158 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

(1) page, (2) score (or brace if you prefer), (3) measure,
(4) beat. Thus e.g., "Page 47, second score, fourth
measure, beginning with the second beat." Give the
direction slowly and very distinctly, and then do not
repeat it; i.e., get your musicians into the habit of listen-
ing to you the first time you say a thing instead of the
second or third. Carrying out this plan may result in
confusing unpreparedness on the part of your singers or
players for a time or two, but if the plan is adhered to
consistently they will very soon learn to listen to your
first announcement — and you will save a large amount
of both time and energy.

rehearsal letters Ensemble music is frequently sup-
AND NUMBERS plied with rehearsal letters or num-

bers, these enabling the performers
to locate a passage very quickly. When not printed in
the score, it will often be a saving of time for the con-
ductor to insert such letters or numbers in his own copy
of the music in advance of the first rehearsal, asking the
members to insert the marks in their music as he dic-
tates their location by page and score, or by counting
measures in the case of orchestra music. These letters
or numbers are best inserted with soft red or blue pencil.

THE "WHOLE METHOD" When a new composition is to be
OF LEARNING taken up, go through it as a

whole a few times, so as to give
everyone a general idea of its content and of the con-
nection and relation of its parts. After this, begin to
work at the difficult spots that you have found, then
when it begins to go fairly well, work definitely for
expressive rendition. You will of course not expect
ordinary performers to go through the composition the
first time in a very artistic fashion. If they keep going
and do not make too many mistakes, they will have
done all that non-professionals should be expected to do.

EFFICIENCY IN THE REHEARSAL 159

Psychologists have found as the result of careful inves-
tigation that the " whole method' ' of study is much to
be preferred to what might be termed the "part method,"
because of the fact that a much clearer and closer asso-
ciation between parts is thus formed, and there is no
doubt but that this point applies very forcibly to the
study of music. In an interview published in the New
York World in June, 19T6, Harold Bauer writes as fol-
lows about this matter as related to piano music :

Now, in taking up a new work for the piano, the child could and should
play right through every page from beginning to end for the purpose of obtain-
ing a definite first impression of the whole. A mess would probably be made
of it technically, but no matter. He would gradually discover just where
the places were that required technical, smoothing, and then by playing them
over slowly these spots would be technically strengthened. By the time the
composition was thoroughly learned the technique would be thoroughly ac-
quired, too. Obtaining first a perfect mental picture of the whole, and after-
ward working out the details, is better than learning a work by starting with
the details before gaining a broad impression of the composition as a whole;

This method of studying musical compositions is
especially important from the standpoint of expression.
In many an instance, the source of wrong interpreta-
tion (or of no interpretation at all) may be traced
directly to a method of studying the composition which
has not impressed the singers or players with its essen-
tial meaning and spirit, and with the significance of the
various details in relation to the plan of the work as a
whole. This is particularly true of choral compositions,
and in taking up such works, it may often be well for
the conductor to read aloud the entire text of the
chorus that is being studied in order that the attention
of the singers may be focused for a few moments upon
the imagery conveyed by the words. Such attention
is frequently impossible while singing, because the
minds of the singers are intent upon the beauty or
difficulty of the purely musical aspects of the composi-
tion, and thus the so-called "expression" becomes merely

160 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

a blind and uninspired obedience to certain marks like
piano, forte, and ritardando — the real spirit of inter-
pretation being entirely absent.

distributing Have the distribution and care of

AND CARING FOR music so systematized that there
THE MUSIC .11 i .. jl - .

will be neither contusion nor waste

of time in this part of the rehearsal. In a professional
organization there will of course be a salaried librarian
to see to such work, but it is entirely possible to secure
somewhat the same kind of results in an amateur body
by having two or three members elected or appointed
for the task, these persons serving either entirely with-
out salary or being paid a purely nominal sum. These
librarians will then be expected to take the responsibility
of marking new music, of distributing and collecting it
at such times as may be agreed upon by librarian and
conductor, and of caring for it at concerts or at any other
time when it is to be used.

It will be the duty also of the head librarian to keep a
record of all music loaned or rented, and to see that it is
returned in good condition. It would be well too if he kept
a card index, showing just what music is owned by the or-
ganization, the number of copies of each selection, the
price, the publisher, the date when purchased, et cetera.
Ask the librarians to come five or ten minutes before the
beginning of the rehearsal, and make it your business to
provide one of them with a slip having upon it the names
or numbers of all the selections to be used at that par-
ticular rehearsal. Keeping the music in covers or in
separate compartments of a cabinet, one of which will
hold all of the copies of a single selection, and having
these arranged alphabetically or numerically, will con-
siderably facilitate matters for both you and the libra-
rians. Do not think it beneath your dignity to investi-
gate the number of copies of any composition that you
are planning to use, and when there are not enough to

EFFICIENCY IN THE REHEARSAL 161

supply each singer in the chorus and each desk in the
orchestra with a copy, to see to it that more music is
ordered. It is impossible to rehearse efficiently if the
singers in a chorus have to use a part of their energy in
trying to read music from a book or sheet held by some
one else, or if the players in an orchestra are straining
their eyes because three or four instead of two are
reading from a single desk.

It will be convenient for the conductor to possess a
file containing a copy of each number in the library at
his home or studio, each copy being marked "conduc-
tor's copy." In this way, the director will always be
assured of having the same music, and will feel that it
is worth while to mark it in such a way as to make it
more useful in both rehearsal and performance.

COUNTING ALOUD, Do not make the mistake of count-
TAPPING, AND mg or tapping on the desk constantly

rrxjT7 ^TTrmxTc during the rehearsal. You may think

J IICj CHU-LVUh - . Ill

you are strengthening the rhythm,
but as a matter of fact, you are actually weakening it,
for in this way you take away from the performers the
necessity of individual muscular response to the pulse,
and at the performance (when you cannot, of course,
count or tap) the rhythm is very likely to be flabby and
uncertain. Singing with the chorus is another mistake
against which the amateur should be warned. The
director not only cannot detect errors and make intel-
ligent criticisms if he sings with the chorus, but will
make the members dependent upon his voice instead of
compelling them to form the habit of watching him.
The only exception to this principle is in teaching new
music to a choir composed of very poor readers, in
which case it is sometimes much easier to teach a diffi-
cult phrase by imitation. Even here, however, it is
almost as well to have the organ give the correct tones.
In leading community singing, the conductor will of

162 ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

course sing with the crowd, for here he is striving for
quite a different sort of effect.

VENTILATION See to it that the practice room is well
ventilated, especially for a chorus re-
hearsal. Plenty of fresh air will not only enable your
chorus to sing with better intonation, but will allow
them to sing for a longer period without fatigue. (We
are tempted to add a corollary to this proposition:
namely, that sleepy congregations are not always due
to poor preaching, as is generally supposed, but are as
frequently the result of a combination of fairly good
preaching and a badly ventilated auditorium!)

A CAPPELLA Jn directing a chorus rehearsal, have
your singers study without accompani-
ment much of the time. The organ
"covers a multitude of sins" and practising without it
will not only enable you to discover weaknesses of all
sorts but will help the singers themselves enormously by
making them more independent, improving the intona-
tion, and compelling them to make cleaner and more
definite attacks and releases.

THE value OF A Finally, in concluding both this
sense OF HUMOR chapter and the book as a whole, let

us commend once more to the con-
ductor that he cultivate "the saving grace of humor."
This quality has already been commented on somewhat
at length in an earlier chapter (see p. 8), but it is
in the rehearsal period that it is most needed, and the
conductor who is fortunate enough to be able to laugh
a little when annoyances interrupt or disrupt his plans
instead of snarling, will not only hold the members of
the organization together for a longer time, because of
their cordial personal attitude toward him, but will find
himself much less fatigued at the end of the rehearsal;

EFFICIENCY IN THE REHEARSAL 163

for nothing drains one's vitality so rapidly as scolding.
A bit of humorous repartee, then, especially in response
to the complaints of some lazy or grouchy performer; the
ability to meet accidental mishaps without anger; even
a humorous anecdote to relieve the strain of a taxing
rehearsal — all these are to be highly recommended as
means of oiling the machinery of the rehearsal and
making it run smoothly.

But of course, even humor can be overdone. So we
shall close by quoting the Greek motto, "Nothing too
much," which will be found to apply equally well to
many other activities recommended in the foregoing
pages.

APPENDIX A

Reference List

I. General:

Berlioz, The Orchestral Conductor. A short treatise full of practical

suggestions. It is found in the back of the author's well-known

volume on Orchestration.
Weingartner, On Conducting. A small volume of about seventy-five

pages, but containing excellent material for both amateur and

professional.
Schroeder, Handbook of Conducting. A practical little book from the

standpoint of both orchestral and operatic directing.
Wagner, On Conducting. A short t ^atise that every professional con-
ductor will wish to read, but not of much value to the amateur.
Mees, Choirs and Choral Music. A well-written account of the history

of choral music from the time of the Hebrews and Greeks down to

the present, containing also an excellent chapter on the Chorus

Conductor.
Grove, Dictionary of Music and Musicians (article, Conducting).
Henderson, What Is Good Music? (chapters XIII and XVII).
Krehbiel, How to Listen to Music (chapter VIII).
II. Interpretation:

Coward, Choral Technique and Interpretation. One of the few really

significant books on conducting. The author gives in a clear and

practical way the principles on which his own successful work as a

choral conductor was based.
Matthay, Musical Interpretation. A book for the musician in general,

rather than for the conductor specifically; an excellent treatise and

one that all musicians should read.
III. The Orchestra:

Lavignac, Music and Musicians (chapter II).

Mason, The Orchestral Instruments and What They Do.

Corder, The Orchestra and How to Write for It.

Prout, The Orchestra (two volumes).

Kling, Modern Orchestration and Instrumentation.

Henderson, The Orchestra and Orchestral Music; contains two chapters

(XII and XIII) on the Orchestral Conductor that will be of great

interest to tne amateur.

APPENDIX A 165

Mason (Editor), The Art of Music (Vol. VIII).

Stoeving, The Art of Violin Bowing.

Forsyth, Orchestration. A particularly good book both for professional
and amateur, as it gives many illustrations and treats the various
instruments from an historical as well as a practical standpoint

Widor, The Modern Orchestra.
IV. The Church Choir:

Curwen, Studies in Worship Music (two volumes).

Dickinson, Music in the History of the Western Church.

Helmore, Primer of Plainsong.

Pratt, Musical Ministries in the Church.
V. The Boy Choir:

Bates, Voice Culture for Children.

Brown and Behnke, The Child Voice.

Howard, The Child Voice in Singing.

Johnson, The Training of Boys' Voices.

Richardson, The Choir Trainer's Art.

Stubbs, Practical Hints on Boy Choir Training.

VI. Voice Training:

Ffrangson-Davies, The Singing of the Future.

Fillebrown, Resonance in Singing and Speaking.

Greene, Interpretation in Song.

Henderson, The Art of the Singer.

Russell, English Diction for Singers and Speakers,

Withrow, Some Staccato Notes for Singers.

VII. Miscellaneous:

Hamilton, Outlines of Music History.
Hamilton, Sound and Its Relation to Music.

166

ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

APPENDIX B

HAYDN-SYMPHONY N93

"Surprise^Symphony

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INDEX

A cappella singing, 162.
Accompanist — Relation to conductor,
147.

Choosing of, 147.

Treatment of, 148.
Accompanying, organ, 150.
Adolescent boy, 124, 125.
Alto, male, 119.
Altschuler, quoted, 61.
Anglican chant — Baton movements

for, 33.
Attack — How to secure it, 30.

In reading new music, 32.

Back stroke, 28.

Baton — Description of, 20.

How used, 21.

Position of, 22.
Baton movements — Diagrams of, 22.

Principles of, 22.

Length of stroke, 32.
Bauer, quoted, 159.
Berlioz, quoted, 62.
Boundaries of music, 41.
Bowing — Directions for, 103.

Signs, 103, 104.
Boy— Problem of, 126-129.
Boy choir — Problem of, 118.

Government of, 126-129.

Remuneration of members, 129.
Boy voice — In church choir, 118-125.

Life of, 123.

During adolescence, 124.
Break — Adult voice, 137.

Child voice, 122.
Breathing, 132.
Breath Control, 133.

Canadian Journal of Music, quoted,

19.
Caruso, quoted, 44.
Chant, Anglican — Baton movements

for, 33.
Cheatham, quoted, 87.
Cheerful attitude — Value of, 10.

Child Voice — Peculiarities of, 118.

Difference between boy and girl,
120.

Compass of, 121.
Children, directing, 79.
Choir, boy — Problems cf, 118.

Boy voice, 118, 119, 120-125.

Qualifications of leader, 119.

Remuneration of boys, 129.

Government of boys, 126-129.
Choir, church — Problems of directiDg,
108.

Remedies, 109.

Difficulties involved in, 111.

Qualifications of leader, 112.

Danger of individualism, 112.

Solo- singing in, 114.
Chorus, high school — Music for, 80.

Direction of, 82.

Seating of, 83.
Church music — Remedies needed,
108.

Solo singing, 114.

Importance of congregation sing-
ing, 116.
Clarinet, 99.
Clearness of speech — As element in

leadership, 16.
Community music — Significance of,
85.

Social effects of, 86.

Qualifications of song leader, 87.

Song material, 89.

Advertising, 90.

Provision of words, 91.
Compass of child voice, 121.
Compass of orchestral instruments,

107.
Compound measures, 23, 24, 26, 27.
Conducting — Definition. 1.

History of, 2.

Psychological basis of, 3.

Orchestral, 93.

Church choir, 108.

Boy choir, 118.
Conductor — Qualities of, 8, 110.

Present status of, 2, 3.

As organizer, 13.

As interpreter, 36.

Orchestral, 93.

Relation to accompanist, 147-151.
Congregational singing, 116.

181

182

ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

Consonants in singing, 135.
Counting aloud, 161.
Coward, quoted, 65.
Creative imagination, 11.
Crescendo, 58.

D

Diagrams of baton movements, 22, 23,

24.
Dickinson, quoted, 62, 109.
Discipline in rehearsals, 155.
Dynamics, 57-63.

Terms denned, 59, 60.

E

Efficiency in the rehearsal, 152.
Efficiency vs. Idealism* 153.
Emotion — In interpretation, 38.
Enthusiasm as an element in leader-
ship, 16, 17.
Expression — Meaning of, 36, 43.

In instrumental music, 46.

Elements of, 46.

How produced, 72, 75.

Fermata, 31.
Five-beat measure, 27.

Gehring, quoted, 42.
Girl voice, 120, 121.

H

Harmony, 71.

Haydn score, 166.

Head voice, 122, 123.

High school chorus — Direction of, 82.

Seating of, 83.

Music for, 80.
History of conducting, 2.
Hold, 31.
Humor — Sense of, 8.

Illustrations of, 9.

Value in rehearsals, 162.
Hymns — Selection of, 117.

Idealism vs. Efficiency. 153.
Imagination — Value of, 11.
Individualism— =Danger of in church
choir, 112.

Instinctive imitation, 3.
Instrumental music — Expression in,
46.

Timbre in, 66.

Phrasing in, 69.
Instruments — Proportion of, 97.

Transposing, 98-100.

Pitch standards, 101.

Tuning of, 102.

Bowing, 103.

Range of, 107.
Interpretation and expression — Defin-
ition, 36.
Interpretation, 36-75.

Emotion in, 38.

Definition, 40.

In vocal music, 43.

Importance of timbre in, 66.

Leadership — Sense of, 13.

Elements of, 15, 16, 17.

Summary, 18.
Legato, 135.
Length of program, 142.
Life of boy voice, 123.

M

Male alto, 119.

Melody accentuation, 61.

Memory, muscular in tempo, 55.

Messa di voce, 138.

Metronome, 48.

Movable break, 122.

Music — Non-measured, 33.

Boundaries of, 41.

Vocal, 43.

Instrumental — Expression in, 46.

School— Field of, 75.

Church, 108-117.
Music — Distribution and care^f, 160.
Music — Selection of, 80.

For children, 80.

High school chorus, 81.

Church, 108-117.
Music stand, 20.
Musical scholarship, 6.

N

Non-measured music, 32.
Nuances, tempo, 53.

INDEX

183

O

Orchestra — Directing of, 93-95.

Seating of, 96.
Orchestral instruments — Proportion
of, 97.
Transposing, 98.
Pitch standards, 101.
t Tuning, 102.
' Ranges of, 107.
Organ accompaniments, 150.
Organizing ability, 13.

Personality of conductor, 8.
Personality of supervisor, 78.
Phrasing — Explanation of, 66.

In vocal music, 67.

Mistakes in, 68.

In instrumental music, 69.
Pianissimo, 60, 61.
Pitch — Registers, 71.

Standards, 101.
Planning the rehearsal, 154.
Poise — as element in leadership, 16.
Portamento, 138.
Principle of time beating, 28.
Program-making, 140.

Length of, 142.

Arrangement of numbers, 144.

Importance of details, 146.
Program music, 42.
Psychological basis of conducting, 3.
Public performance — Attitude of con-
ductor at, 82.
Public school music, 76.

Relation to church choirs, 115.

Qualities of conductor, 8.

R

Ranges of orchestral instruments, 107.

Recitative, 33.

Registers— Child voice, 122, 123.

In adult voice, 136.
Rehearsal — How to save time in,
152-163.

Planning of, 154.

Discipline in, 155.
Rehearsal letters or numbers, 158.
Relation between conductor and ac-
companist, 147-151.

Relaxation in singing, 136
Release — How to secure, 30.
Resonance, 134.
Rhvthm, 70.
Rubato, 53.

Scholarship, musical — Importance of,

6.
School music — Field of, 76.

Supervisor's personality, 78.

Direction of children, 79.

Selection of music, 80.

Public performance, 81.
Schumann as a conductor, 13.
Score — Reading, 93, 105.
Seating — Orchestra, 96.

High School chorus, 83.
SeK-confidence — Element in leader-
ship, 15.
Seven-beat measure, 27.
Singing — Solo, 114.

Congregational, 116.

Use of vowel and consonants
134, 135.

Legato, 135.

Relaxation in, 136.

Summary of good, 139.

A cappella, 162.
Solo singing, 114.
Spitta, quoted, 13.
Standards of pitch, 101.
Sternberg, C. von, quoted, 37.
Stroke, length of, 32.
Supervisor of music, 76.

Table Of orchestral instruments, 107

Transposing instruments, 100.
Technique of the rehearsal, 152.
Tempo, 46-56.

Importance of, 47.

Finding correct, 48.

Rubato, 54, 55.

Establishing of, 55.
Tempo terms defined, 49-53.
Timbre, 64.

In instrumental music, 66.

In vocal music, 64. 65, 66.
Time beating — Principles and meth-
ods of, 22-29.

Back stroke, 28, 29.
Tone — How produced, 134.
Tone quality, 64-66.

184

ESSENTIALS IN CONDUCTING

Transposing instruments, 98, 99, 100.

Tremolo in singing, 138.

Tuning orchestral instruments, 102.

U

Unity in program making, 142.

Varasdin, quoted, 19.

Variety in program, 140.

Ventilation of practice rooms, 162.

Vibrato, 138.

Vocal cords, Action of, 137.

Vocal music — Interpretation, 43.

Timbre, 64.

Phrasing, 67.
Vocal register, 136.
Voice, the boy's — In church choir,
118-125.

Life of, 123.

During adolescence, 124, 125.

Voice, the child's — Peculiarities r>f,
118.
Compass of, 121.
Difference between voice of boy

and girl, 120.
Head voice, 122, 123.
Voice training — In conducting, 119,
131.
Breathing, 132.
Breath control, 133.
Resonance, 134.
Legato, 135.
Tone production, 137.
Vowel in singing, 134.

W

Wagner, quoted, 47.
Weingartner, quoted, 12.
Whipple, quoted, 10.
Whole method, 158.
Williams, C. F. A., quoted, 75.

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